Dude Where's My World?
by Princess Geta
Summary: Two weak girls who drop right into the middle of a sparring match between Goku and Vegeta claiming to be from a different world - yeah, you'd probably think they were on drugs too.
1. Chapter 1: The Strangers

**Disclaimer: **I do not own DB/BZ/GT.

**Note**: Welcome to the revised version of DWMW! I wrote this story when I was thirteen and throughout the years have re-written it a few times trying to make it a bit better. It's now 7 years since I posted this story and It means just as much to me now as it did back then. If you're an old friend, I thank you for sticking around, if you're a new reader, I hope you enjoy it.

_**Important!** If you want to skip the intro, by all means, skip to Chapter 2 to get right to DBZ Characters._

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised.

**Chapter 1**: The Strangers.

Running through the open hallways of her school, a girl pushed her legs to pump faster and skidded - almost loosing her footing as she rounded a corner, waving her hands to keep herself balanced, muttering curses when the school bell rang.

"So much for-Sorry!" She cringed in embarrassment as she, and the other person, stumbled into one another. She mumbled another incoherent apology, as she tried to neatly go around the other person - and quickly go on her way - when the voice of the other person stopped her.

"Val?" The female voice asked, in amusement. She looked over, raising her eyes to her friend; Josie, who waved her hand from right to left once in greeting.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" She asked, confused. Josie's expression sobered up.

"Waiting for you." She said, eyes narrowing on Val in annoyance when a second bell rung, indicating that they were now really, **really** late. Valerie, who was called Val for short, chuckled with a shrug, once again, embarrassed.

"Well, we're late now so.." Valerie trailed off. Josie nodded with a raised eye-brow at the obvious observation.

"Indeed." She said simply, looking around with a sigh at the empty hallways. "We should probably go get a pass from the office.." She left her unfinished sentence hang in the air as she noticed Val's expression and frowned, recognizing that look. She looked over her shoulder and she immediately found the reason for Val's sour expression.

A tall, muscular guy with strawberry-blonde spiky hair was behind her, arms crossed, looking cocky and amused as only one overconfident teenage male could be. She slowly turned, unconsciously taking as step to stand beside her friend. He did not seem to notice Josie at all and only continued to stare at Valerie in amusement.

"What's up, punk rocker?" Valerie rolled her eyes. She had grown up in this unfortunately small town, in which the majority of the school population had grown up together. This jerk in front of her, Shannon, was unfortunately an old bully from Valerie's sand box days.

"Get out of our way." She said simply, glaring. His grin only widened at the hostility beginning to radiate off the much smaller girl. It was just far too easy with her.

"Calm down, punk rocker." He said. "You don't want to be sent back to boot camp again, do you?" He teased. Valerie flinched at the old scar and Josie's eyes narrowed.

"Hey!" Josie snapped her fingers by her head to get his attention. He blinked, turning his attention to her unwittingly, with a tilt of his head. He knew her vaguely from having seen her around the school but didn't know much about her other than the fact that she had moved to town three to four years back.

He arched a brow at her loud tone, crossing his arms and facing her, curious as to what she had to say. "Back off, idiot." She demanded. He chuckled, rolling his eyes upward, having hoped for more of a snappy come-back than that. "Shouldn't you be in class or something?" Josie asked, annoyed, realizing the lack of bite her retort had held.

"I decided to ditch." He said simply, staring at Valerie once more, bored with the slighter taller girl. Josie leaned over in front of Valerie, smiling at the annoyance flashing back in his eyes as she once more demanded his attention from his usual target.

"Hi." She smiled. "Me again. So, we," She gestured to herself and Valerie. "Are not ditching, as tempting as you make that look...so would you please move the hell out of the way for me?" She asked, irritated. He gave a very obviously polite and fake smile, bowing deeply with oozing sarcasm as he signaled her to go ahead past him. Josie's glare intensified, with clear mistrust she slowly made her way past him; When Valerie tried to follow suit, he immediately put his arm straight out to block her from passing.

"Tsk, tsk." He started, with a shake of his head as Valerie backed up, in disgust from nearly touching him. "Where are you going, punk rocker? You didn't ask politely." Shannon said with a grin.

"I'm only going to say this one more time, Shannon. Get. Out. Of. My. Way." Valerie demanded, calmly. He stared back with that infuriating smirk of his, as he took a step forward.

"What are you going to do? Hit me?" He asked with amusement. "You really think you could hurt me?" He insisted, receiving no answer but a stare.

He nodded, getting more enjoyment out of this by the second. "Okay, alright. This should be cute." He said laughing. "Come-on, give it your best shot. I'll give you a freebie." He offered, the stupid grin plastered on his face as he opened his arms wide in offering. Valerie hesitated as she briefly looked over at Josie who was still behind Shannon. When Josie realized she had Valerie's attention she furiously shook her head for her to ignore the taunt and Valerie clenched her fists. "Come-on!" He shouted, starting to get annoyed.

"No. Val, don't." Bursted out of Josie's mouth, uncomfortably looking around. Where the hell were teachers when they needed them?

"Shut up." He called over his shoulder in annoyance. "So?" He asked the tense shouldered Valerie, starting to loose patience himself. He enjoyed this game a lot more when she was alone.

"I just want to pass and get to class." She said shaking her head as she stared up at her perpetrator of years. "Will you move?" Valerie asked. He crossed his arms on his broad chest again with chuckle.

"Nope." He said happily. She ALWAYS asked him that, every since she was six years old with the same silly baggy clothes and much too large back pack. It would always turn out the same and he'd make her cry or she'd run a different route or just walk away dejected as he'd call her names and holler at her back. Things never changed, he thought with a smile.

Today, however, was a different day and as soon as the word was out of his mouth he failed to notice Valerie's eyebrow twitch and her mouth turn down briefly before her fist connected with his stomach, hard. His upper body came forward at the impact left him unable to breathe in any oxygen; as his lungs expanded painfully, his face drained completely of any color. He stumbled back a step with his arms around his stomach - Valerie's form blurry in front of him - as she calmly stood, unhappily looking around to make sure no one had seen the hit.

She turned back a few moments later when a startled high pitched scream started emitting from his throat as he fell to his knees. Valerie took a step back confused noticing that he was very protectively cupping his crotch in apparently real pain, his eyes wide. She opened her mouth, eyebrows drawn in worry as she turned to ask Josie what the hell was happening when she noticed Josie rubbing the tip of her shoe covered foot with one hand as she hopped around.

"What is his thing made of? Steel?" Josie cried out.

DUDE!" Valerie exclaimed in surprise, immediately putting the pieces together as to what her friend had just done to the poor guy. Josie jumped slightly higher; guilt, worry and badly hidden amusement shining clear in her eyes as she bit her thumb anxiously attempting to smile at Valerie as she let go of her foot.

"I can't believe you did that." Valerie laughed. Josie grinned in response and turned her attention to study the purple faced looking boy who was still on the floor, mouth opening and closing with little noises escaping.

"YOU TWO!" Both girls froze as they heard the quick steps of a heeled woman approaching. They turned as a teacher they both knew quickly kneeled by the boy. Josie fought not to roll her eyes, NOW the authority figure showed up. "What have you done? You two should be ashamed!" She scolded angrily, as she looked over the teenager, putting a hand on his shoulder to check him as she tried to balance her handful of papers with her other.

"Are you okay, Shannon?" She asked with concern. Before she even realize what happened she was two feet away from the teenager with her palms scraped from attempting to cushion the fall; the fall that she had just taken due to Shannon pushing her viciously to the ground. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the boy as the two girls each quickly took an elbow and hoisted her up as her papers slowly fell to the ground. Valerie quickly signaled Josie to take a step back knowing from years of living with her mother what an angry woman about to blow up looked like.

"Oops." Shannon said, embarrassed. He had thought the teacher had been one of the girls and blind anger had caused him to shove the person having absolutely no idea that it had been a faculty member.

"GRR-Valerie and Josie!" The teacher shouted, pointing to Valerie. "You can go home now," She spat out, failing to notice Josie picking up papers at her feet. "I will personally be calling your parents tonight to tell them of your inexcusable behavior here today." She said through clenched teeth.

"..but" Valerie started, nervously.

"NOW!" She growled, tensing, her eyes narrowing to smaller slits as Josie handed her a few of the papers she had dropped.

"..You have nice handwriting." Josie commented shyly, as she lightly pointing at the paper the teacher was now holding again. Valerie carefully reached in front of the teacher to grab Josie's wrist and once she found purchase she yanked the taller girl towards her as the teacher's right eye twitched, silent for only just a second longer before she exploded in a rage, "NOW! NOW NOW! GO!" Both girls jumped and made a run for it, Shanon vaguely hearing them argue as they ran away.

"_Nice handwriting? were you TRYING to make her kill us!" Valerie reprimanded her friend. _

"_What! I was trying to lighten the mood!" _

"SHANNON!" Shannon's head turned quickly towards the towering teacher who's shadow now covered him.

"..Yes?" He asked with a gulp.

"My office. Now." She demanded angrily, as she stalked off with the sullen boy behind her.

…

The two girls made their way outside of the school grounds in silence, passing on the sidewalk of the busy street ignoring the chirping birds in the sky and cars passing by the school. Valerie finally broke the silence and groaned, shaking her head.

"Dude, I am so gonna get in trouble with my parents - they are going to kill me." She whined. Josie cringed in response as she thought about her own house.

"I'm not thinking my parents are going to be too thrilled either. What are we going to do?" Josie asked, bringing her hand up to anxiously chew at the fingernails.

"I don't know, but my mom is at home - there's no way I can deal with it right now, my dad is at work and without him there that woman will definitely kill me." Valerie said with a frown. The two girls remained silent as they crossed the busy intersection, making their way onto a dirt road next to a mile long strawberry field.

"Well." Josie picked right back up after the long silence. "My parents shouldn't be home." She shrugged."I mean maybe my dad, but…" Josie distractedly picked up a long, leaf-less branch and absently twirled it in one hand. "I'm sure he'll be gone by the time we get there - or just about, if you want, you can stay at my house till school is over. Then you can go home and talk to both your parents." Josie suggested glancing over at Valerie who sighed with a nod.

"Alright. I'll do that." Josie nodded in satisfaction with the the plan they'd agreed upon. The two friends continued down the dirt path, over train tracks, and through some tall uncared for fields of wheat in companionable silence.

Valerie bent down to pick up a rock, her black mid back length hair that she always had down getting in her way the way it usually did. She moved it out of the way in annoyance as she straightened her 4'10 frame, cracking her head to the side to produce a comforting snap. She sighed as she started to move forward once again playing with the rock she had picked up moving it though her fingers as she thoughtfully considered the last hour she'd just experienced.

She couldn't explain Sharon's dislike for her, ever since they were kids he'd made fun of her light brown skin and her "muddy" eyes as he'd called them. She'd briefly told Josie about him before and her friend had chalked it up to a crush but Valerie had always dismissed the notion. Yes, she had matured early as a girl with her chest developing when she was only thirteen in a way that most eighteen year olds would have envied but she had never wanted it.

She shook her head at the self conscious thoughts that barraged her mind as she forced herself to think of the present. She was sixteen now and luckily in an age range where her body was now not topic of speculation since she was in high school and students really couldn't care less anymore, too involved in their own lives to pick apart _her_ body; Besides, she made sure to hide her shape behind baggy clothes, as Sharon always liked to point out or make fun of.

She didn't see what was so bad about it, she thought, as she looked down at herself. She usually wore baggy black shorts that reached her knees and a loose white shirts with multiple japanese symbols in black font and her usual green jacket thrown over it.

Josie walked slowly a few steps ahead now that Valerie had fallen behind, throwing her tree branch lazily up into the air and catching it by clasping her hands over it. She froze when she saw the branch go up in the air and bonk Valerie on the head before bouncing off.

"Oops." Josie grinned. Josie herself stood at 5'3 with dark brown, mid back length hair. Unlike Valerie's usually straight hair, Josie's had a natural wave that she had a hard time trying to style, so she usually kept it in a lazy pony tail behind her and only ever had trouble with the two bangs that insisted on tickling her cheek. She had a light tan skin color, an oval shaped face with two large dark brown eyes. Her body was thin, modest in bust with softly shaped hips that contrasted Valerie's more developed curves.

She was less self conscious than he friend currently was and couldn't care less about her body or what way she was dressing it at this present time. She did, however, have in common with Valerie that she did like to usually dress casually, as she did today; wearing light blue jeans, a faded form-fitting red shirt with the numbers '01' on the chest in black, with the collar and tips of the sleeves of the t-shirt having a black lining; as well, a blue light zip-up hoodie over it.

The two girls finally stepped into some familiar neighborhoods from the town and walked two blocks before running up on a bridge that overlooked a highway, chasing each other with the branch Josie had picked up.

"Okay, okay, no more." Valerie pleaded as they started to come down the other side of the bridge. Josie smirked and twirled her branch, happy with the small victory. Valerie rolled her eyes and tried to hide her smile as they made it back onto a sidewalk, she knew that Josie was only trying to distract her from whatever trouble they were going to get into for the day's events.

"Ho." Josie mumbled, more in a noise than an actual human word, stopping her stride, planting her branch straight out beside her to stop Valerie mid-step; her eyes trained on her house that was beside the large church building. Valerie blinked, confused, coming to a stop as she followed the taller girl's gaze.

"What?" Valerie asked. Josie frowned.

"My dad's van." She said nodding towards the offensive vehicle. She immediately brought up her hood and gestured to the bushes at the fence that met between her estate and the church and crouched behind it, pulling Valerie down to do the same; who remained silent for about a minute before starting to fidget. She felt Josie glare and tried hard to stop her movement but was unable too contain it.

"What is your problem?" Josie asked quietly, with annoyance clear in her voice.

"I have to take a leak." Valerie argued, shifting uncomfortably. Josie's eyes widened.

"Val!" She scolded, mortified, at the girl's language.

"Well I do!" Valerie argued, uncaring.

"Fidgeting is not conducive to sneaking!"

"What the hell is condusi-"

"SHH!" Josie demanded when she noticed her father come out of the house. He went around the car to the drivers seat, unlocked the door, got it and promptly turned on the car before driving off.

"See?" Josie said with a smile as she straightened up with the help of her companion branch, pulling off random pieces of grass and bush leaves that stuck to her sweater. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" She asked rhetorically with a smile as she went around the front of the house, fishing in her pockets for her house key.

Valerie followed after her, mumbling unhappily as she swiped at her sleeves, easily going past Josie who slowed down to a stop a few feet from her front door. Valerie stopped right at the door, turning around confused as to why Josie wasn't opening the door already.

"Hurry!" Valerie insisted, starting to hop from foot to foot again in frustration. Josie pursed her lips in concentration as she starting digging both hands into her pants pockets. She shook her head, chuckling with nerves as she re-checked her pockets.

"…Oops." Josie mumbled, with a cringe, awaiting the verbal onslaught.

"OOPS?" Valerie repeated, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean, oops?"

"I may... have forgotten to bring my key to school with me today.." Josie admitted, with a light shrug and an embarrassed smile."This isn't the first time this has happened to me though, so don't panic." Josie ordered before Val flipped out, as she signaled for the girl to follow her as they went around the house again to where they had hid behind the bushes before. Josie put her hands on the fence, pushing herself up and over the fence landing with a small thud.

Valerie looked around to make sure no one was looking and followed suit, landing beside Josie who was dusting off her shirt to attempt to clear off the dirt paw prints on the stomach of her shirt.

"Holy cow that's a big dog." Valerie muttered, blinking at the German Shephard that wagged her tail happily a few feet away, undaunted by whatever it was that was going on as long as one of her masters was there. Josie chuckled as she took a few steps forward.

"She's not that big- it's just that you only have Chihuahua's." she said with a shrug.

"And an evil bird." Valerie added in reminder.

"And an evil bird." Josie repeated with a nod of acknowledgement. Josie led Valerie to a bathroom window that lacked width but made up for it with it's length.

"..Bathroom window?" Valerie questioned, still a little confused, taking another small step towards Josie nervously when her dogs started sniffing around her feet.

"Yup." Josie stated, looking around for something to help boost her up. She finally settled for the dog house a foot or two away and dragged it heavily right underneath the window. "Most of our windows are usually kept locked but no sane person would come in through this tiny window, so-"

"So because you're clinically insane in most states, you do this often?" Josie had already climbed upon the dog house, slid the small window open and already had a foot awkwardly placed inside when she turned her head to answer down at her friend.

"Precisely." She said, hoisting her upper body with the upper edges of the window and sliding her leg further in until she was straddling the inside and outside of the house. "I'm such a pro." Josie grinned for a moment before her eyes widened and she lost her balance and disappeared from Valerie's view who could only hear glass break and a stream of curses following.

"Smooth." Valerie commented, smiling. "…What did you do?" Valerie asked, glancing warily at Josie's dogs.

"What a great day..." Josie muttered slowly as she lightly kicked at the stray pieces of glass on the ground now. "Yup. If I wasn't dead before, I'm so dead now." She left the room and opened a door for Valerie who rushed inside to the bathroom without another word.

Josie only chuckled as she went to her fridge and opened it, retrieving two water bottles and took a good gulp from one. She glanced over her shoulder two minutes later when she heard Valerie and threw the other at her lightly who nodded in thanks, sighing heavily.

"What are we going to do, man?" Valerie asked seriously. Josie shook her head as she leaned her hip on her kitchen counter.

"Frankly, I'm avoiding thinking about it." Josie admitted through a mutter as she took another sip at her water. Valerie nodded, unhappily.

"Well, do you have a screwdriver?" Josie raised an eye brow at the topic change, that was certainly a random form of distraction.

"What the heck for?" She asked, curiously. Valerie shrugged, patting the black back-pack still on her back.

"My CD player refuses to play my CD's at the moment, I thought I'd check it out at school with Mr. Sullivan - he's usually pretty chill in class, but with all of this I didn't get a chance. I figure it gives me something to do for now, to take my mind off of later." she explained.

Josie nodded in a form of agreement and in gesture for her to go to her room, Valerie took the hint and led them to Josie's bedroom that was in between the other two bedrooms of the house. Valerie immediately went to the bed, laying her bag beside her, opening it up and taking out the culprit of her music woes while Josie skirmished through her desk drawers for a bag of tools.

Upon entering the room their was a bookshelf to the right filled to capacity with books and knick-nacks she'd acquired throughout the years. Beside it and filling up the corner of that bedroom was a dark brown desk with an old fashioned computer and a few papers lazily thrown about. Josie had dropped her back pack to her left, ignoring her closed closed beside it; past that the next wall had a small TV beside her twin bed where Valerie was fiddling with her CD player.

"Found it." Josie said simply, throwing it on the space next to Valerie. She picked it up without giving it a look and began digging into her CD player. Josie dropped herself on her computer chair, curiously watching Valerie for a few minutes. After a little while she started to become restless and her knee started to bounce as she anxiously glanced from her closet doors to Valerie, hesitating with a decision. Valerie finally noticed all of Josie's nervous energy and looked at her with confusion.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing." Josie said easily, with a shrug, as she looked away, and unconsciously looked back at the closet. Valerie noticed this time and looked at the closet too.

"What's in the closet?" She asked, amused, that Josie was clearly hiding something, and doing such a terrible job at it. Josie tensed up.

"Nothing." She repeated.

"Uh huh." Valerie mumbled with a smile, completely unconvinced. "Come-on, Briefs, whatcha hiding?" She asked playfully. Josie rolled her eyes but smiled none the less, a little more relaxed. She pursed her lips, unsure of whether she wanted to share this with Valerie quite yet. She waged the pros and cons in her mind before finally nodding in permission to herself and got up with a sigh, her cheeks already starting to flush with embarrassment, which did not go unnoticed by Valerie who only became more curious.

"Okay." Josie said with a chuckle as she turned her back on the closet doors to face Valerie. "I'm going to show you, but promise not to laugh and make fun." Josie demanded from Valerie who only threw her hands up in the air, impatiently.

"Show me already! you know I won't." Josie nodded and opened one of the closet doors, giving Valerie her back as she bent over half inside the closet as she dug around for something. She started to walk backward, obviously pulling something with her - something, which turned out to be much bigger than Valerie anticipated. She blinked in surprise as she found herself staring at some oval shaped device that stood about 2 feet and a half feet high and 1 foot and a half in width. Different colors and shapes decorated the different layers and lengths of this machine that stood imposingly in the middle of the room.

"What the hell does that do?" Valerie asked, shocked. Josie frowned when she turned her attention back to the machine, thoughtfully.

"I…. have absolutely no idea." Josie admitted. "Nothing as far as I'm aware. The lights along this side." She explained, indicating with her hands what part of the machine she was talking about. "Have flickered on for a few seconds sometimes and the whole thing seems to want to turn on at times but," she shrugged. "It just doesn't." she studied it for another minute as she absently scratched her cheek with her index finger, and finally sighed throwing her hands to the side; letting them hit her thighs as gravity brought them down.

"In any case, it doesn't really matter. I didn't make it for any purpose, I don't know how to build anything." Josie admitted with a shrug. Valerie stood up slowly, putting her things to the side, no longer interested in them as she carefully studied the machine.

"…You really made this?" She questioned, impressed, regardless of whether the device did anything or not. Josie nodded, as she took Valerie's spot on the bed, glancing at Valerie's open CD player before taking it in her hands. She smiled down at the parts, picking up a loose round yellow part. She rolled it through her fingers experimentally as she looked over at Valerie who was crouching next to the machine, touching it carefully.

"I found the majority of the parts in the back of the store that my mom and dad work at. Usually their boss dumps a bunch of parts from machines that no longer work at some of his Laundromats and other business' he owns." Josie explained with another shrug. "I spent so much of my time there that I just got bored and started picking through some of the parts and bringing some home in my backpack."

At Valerie's disapproving look, Josie rolled her eyes. "Most ended up in his dumpster anyway." Josie assured. "I started to make this a few months back and... it's been hiding in my closet ever since." She said with a fond smile for her little part time hobby. She dropped her eyes back to the little thing between her fingers. "How's the progress going with the CD player?" She asked nodding to the object on her lap. Valerie glanced at it and frowned.

"It's a bust, which is fine, I have another one. I was just hoping this one would last a little longer." She shrugged. Josie nodded, digesting this information and trying not to smile. Valerie noticed and smiled in amusement.

"..You want that?" She guessed, gesturing at the piece between her index finger and thumb. Josie nodded sheepishly. "Why?" She asked with a chuckle.

"It's cute!" Josie said with a grin, putting the rest of the items on the bed beside her and going to crouch next to Valerie. Valerie groaned at Josie's reasoning, and only received a wider grin in response.

"Alright, I brought that on myself." Valerie admitted, feeling a lot more light-hearted than she had an hour ago, very glad now that she had decided to come with Josie. Josie nodded in agreement as she started to carefully put the new part into her machine, silently deciding that this was the last piece to it. When she saw it, it felt like it would just fit and her hunch had proven to be correct for she had found the perfect spot to fit the little piece neatly in right away.

She wasn't lying when she told Valerie that this was just a hobby that she'd stumbled upon. The truth of the matter was that Josie had never really been a very motivated person in any aspect of her life but for some reason - from the very beginning - she felt a huge need to see this through to the end. She constantly had it in the back of her mind and she hoped now, as she got up to grab a pair of tweezers, that she'd be able to put this to rest and stop daydreaming; to stop wasting her time with foolish things. Josie always seemed to avoid her reality at all costs and she needed to get back to the real world and finally focus on what she was going to do with her future, as family liked to remind her, she was a Junior now and time was running out to make a plan for after high school.

She came back to sit with Valerie, a slight frown on her face as she started to work on connecting the extending wires to the ones that were already protruding from the machine. Valerie noticed the change of mood immediately but decided not to comment on it, and instead opted to grab her bag from the bed and pulled it towards herself. She rummaged through the contents for a way to distract Josie from whatever dark thoughts she was having and finally smiled when she got a hold of a Goku figurine she had in there.

She carried so many of her favorite items in there that she had no idea this was still in there, but wasn't the least bit surprised. She made the action figure waddle towards Josie and caught her attention immediately, glad to note that her dark thoughtful gaze became one of irresolute amusement in a few seconds.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing, Goku's just checking out your odd machine here." Valerie said, walking the miniature Goku all over her invention, making her laugh out loud.

"I didn't know you still played with dolls, Val." Josie teased, making Valerie glare.

"I do not, this is an action figure." She defended, holding Goku to her chest, causing Josie to chuckle some more.

"Okay." She agreed mockingly, with a wink. Valerie rolled her eyes, with a small smile, glad that she'd successfully distracted Josie. Josie glanced from the corner of her eye, having recognized what Valerie was trying to do for her, appreciating it.

"What else you got in there?" Josie asked, conversationally, nodding towards Valerie's backpack as she set back to take her time with adjusting the new addition to her invention. Valerie dug through her backpack, explaining as she rummaged.

"A few anime comics, mostly DBZ, a ton of drawings of Goku and Gohan, a few of these ACTION FIGURES, and uh… a few good fics I found online." Valerie said with a light shrug.

"…Of DBZ?" Josie asked, knowingly, with amusement. Valerie shrugged again with a chuckle.

"Yeah." She admitted. Josie nodded, lowering her tweezers, as she got up and went to her closet again. "Uh oh, you're not going to bring out another machine, are you?" Valerie asked jokingly.

"Ha. No." Josie mumbled from within it, picking up and showing Valerie a black cargo bag. Valerie merely raised an eye-brow at it in question. "I was just going to reassure you that your not the only dragon ball z freak in the room. Look." She said, as she sat back down and opened the bag showing it's contents to Valerie who leaned over and whistled, impressed.

"Your laptop, dbz pictures and stickers, dbz movies, a poster, flashdrives, and…" Valerie pulled out a large manila folder filled with more than a hundred sheets of printer paper inside it. "..a large folder with…?" She asked, unsure. Josie nodded, taking it from her and rifling through it, briefly.

"A lot of dbz facts, biographies and information." she said with a light shrug, before placing it back neatly in the folder and back into her bag. Valerie chuckled.

"Yeah, we're twisted, pathetic individuals."

"Oh yeah, there's no denying we have issues." Josie agreed, closing the bag securely, and placing it right next to her on the ground, while she picked her tweezers up again, and frowned at her machine.

"Problem?" Valerie asked, noticing the look of concentration.

"Not really - it fits," She said nodding to the newest piece. "Just having a hard time connecting that last wire that wraps around the back. Assistance?" She asked, hopefully, as she looked over at Valerie who hesitated.

"You sure this thing is safe?" She asked. Josie lowered her utensil and gave the question serious thought. It definitely could be dangerous, this thing did have a power supply within but she'd had no real activity from it that gave her cause to worry about safety.

"…Well, it hasn't reacted to all the different parts I've placed in it in a negative way. No big booms or even small ones… but if your worried, then it's best you not touch because no thing like this could be super safe." Josie reasoned, honestly, as she reached her hands around it, trying to slip the wire where she needed it. "I just.. need to get this done." She mumbled quietly in explanation, mostly to herself. Valerie did hear it though and silently reached to help.

"What's the worst that could happen anyway, right?" Valerie asked quietly with a smile, as they finally managed to connect the last wire. Their upper body's pulled back from the machine instantly when they heard a click and then a low buzzing sound. Before either of them could fully pull away or ask what the noise was, both felt a debilitating shock run through their entire bodies; Constant electricity keeping them in place, making their body's loose all feeling; then form, shape, skin, bone, then finally, loose themselves entirely as they disappeared from this world.

**And appeared in another.**

* * *

**Note:** I really considered changing the beginning entirely because, obviously, not everything makes an overabundance of sense. Its not perfect, I realize that, but I was thirteen when I started my first draft of this and I'm fond of the memory of how this all played out in my young brain. I promise though, if you choose to stick around, it gets so much better :)

REVIEW PLEASE! Ja ne! ~*~Princess Geta~*


	2. Chapter 2: The Meeting

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it, still want it, Holiday's are coming up… hint, hint.

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised.

**Chapter 2: **The Meeting.

Their was no ground anymore, why wasn't there ground anymore? Nothing but air - fast moving air - and a sensation of…falling? It didn't really matter anymore. They were probably dead anyway and were going to have to exist with this constant sensation of floating-or falling, whatever it was, they'd just stay this way and never reach any-

"OOF!"

Ground.

"Son of a bitch." Josie mumbled, as she laid face first in what appeared to be grass.

"You got…that right." Valerie muttered, groaning beside her. Josie tried to nod, but only shut her eyes tightly at the excruciating pain in her head; why did everything hurt so damn much? And why was her head going to explode any second now? And WHY WAS SHE OUTSIDE AT ALL?

"What's the worst that could happen.." Josie mimicked angrily, wishing that she was able to physically get up and smack Valerie upside the head for the obvious jinx she had caused when she'd uttered those terrible words.

"Shut up." Valerie mumbled, not feeling too great either. Josie sighed, wishing she could just melt into the puddle of goo that she felt like, right into the ground, and disappear so this pounding in her head would go away.

"Val, we should probably get up now." Josie reasoned, still face first on the ground, limbs feeling like they weighed a ton each.

"Probably." Valerie agreed. The two failed to notice the presence of the two people that they'd interrupted when they'd fallen so randomly out of the sky, who even now, stared at the two with a mixture of confusion and apprehension.

"Ugh!" Valerie heard Josie groan out, then another small thud.

After a beat she asked, "Was that you trying to get up?" Valerie asked with faint amusement, resting her eyes on her forearms, carrying a pretty severe headache herself.

"Yes." Josie admitted, beside her.

"Hm. Good job."

"'Shut up, Son." Josie muttered to herself, as she sighed; she felt like her brain had been sucked out of her very skull. She tried once more to plant her hands beside her and blinked her eyes up at the bright day light unable to see anything as dread filled her; why the hell _were_ they outside? She blinked harder trying to get rid of the blurry vision and a strong wave of dizziness that had her in it's tight and merciless grip at the moment.

She took a final deep breath as she planted once more, her hands palm down on the ground by her face, and gave one firm push up, coming up to a kneeling position. She groaned, holding one hand to her offended head immediately, eyes tightly closed as everything spun around her. She cruelly shook her own head from side to side - annoyed with the pain - as she forced her eyes open to take in her surroundings, freezing instantaneously.

Still laying face down beside her, Valerie was enjoying Josie's momentary silence as she tried to relax before making herself get up. It was clear to Valerie that they had fallen from somewhere, which was confusing enough to understand, considering they had already been on Josie's carpeted ground but she supposed the machine could have maybe-

"..Valerie..?" Josie said quietly.

"What?" Valerie groaned, having hoped for more silent time.

"Look at me." Josie, still quietly, requested. Valerie frowned at how odd her voice sounded, and turned her head towards Josie and opened her eyes, cringing at the bright sun and her blurry vision. She blinked a few times to adjust her eyes and blinked at Josie who kneeled a few feet beside her, looking right at her with her lips tightly in a frown, all color completely drained from her face.

Valerie swallowed audibly, as millions of thoughts started rushing through her head - rejecting them all as soon as they entered her mind. Forcefully, she scrambled up to her feet, stumbling a little, as she stared down at Josie in disbelief. She was an anime character. This whole world was in anime form.

What. The. Hell.

"..Me too?" Josie asked, unhappily, as she noticed the growing panic in Valerie's face. Valerie nodded grimly, still looking around anxiously for some form of explanation, something, telling them that was all a twisted joke somehow.

"How?" Josie asked, eyes wide as she stumbled= up.

"I don't know." Valerie muttered as she started to pace furiously, their had to be some explanation-

"Did we die?" Josie asked, fearfully.

"I don't know." Valerie answered impatiently, not stopping her pacing.

"Is this even earth?" Josie demanded, as she looked around herself, unconcerned with Valerie's frantic pacing. They were on a slight hill, a large singular tree a dozen feet away, and nothing but hundreds of feet of grass around them.

"I. DON'T. KNOW!" Valerie shouted, snapping, as she let her body drop in a sitting position as she groaned in pain and misery at the whole situation, burying her face in her hands. Josie raised an eyebrow at her half crazed friend and stopped when she finally noticed the shadows near her own shadow as well as Valerie's.

_Crap._ She thought. _This is the point where I die, isn't it? It's always the loud ones that die first… _She tensed her already pained body and turned around, fully expecting some big bad guy to be behind her, ready to kill her. She frowned when she saw no one there. Where the hell were the shadows coming from then? She turned back around towards Valerie and froze with a strange realization, she slowly lifted her eyes and considered the possibility that the person who was about to kill her could be above her, floating.

Like some... evil flying fiend.

She lifted her head, and turned a little seeing white boots a few feet above and behind her. She turned her body fully and looked on higher seeing the blue spandex that covered the, clearly, man's legs- oh, there that was, yup, man. She cringed and quickly moved her eyes upwards, her head starting to spin faster and faster, seeming to match the speed of her now racing heart, as her eyes came upon his stomach, chest, neck, and then finally, his face.

"..Sweet barbecue sauce…" Josie mumbled, mouth dropping, and eyes widening as she stared at the floating man with his arms crossed over his broad chest. Above her hovered the serious faced Prince of all Saiyans from Dragon Ball Z. Their was just no way. She shook her head at him, further confusing the already completely lost Saiyan prince, who's frown deepened, displeased with the situation.

He and Goku had been sparring, it had been his first chance to get spar with the half-brained man in nearly a month as his wife nagged him constantly about helping his kids prepare to shop for back to school supplies. And now these two beaten, seemingly human, females drop out of the sky in the middle of their sparring session, going on about complete nonsense. He had been surprised, and pleased that Goku hadn't yet touched ground and happily approached the two girls and ruined their position; Just because the two girls looked like ningens did not mean that they were as weak or as normal, particularly since they'd both mysteriously appeared out of thin air. He frowned still unsure of what to make of them but knowing already that he did not trust them one bit.

And now this stupid girl was talking about barbecue sauce.

He frowned as an odd high pitched noise stated to come out of the humanoid looking creature, increasing in volume as every second passed by - starting to hurt his ears - as it became a full fledge scream. What the hell was wrong with the small person? He unconsciously started to lower down to the ground, unsure if it was to run away or to silence her. Vegeta flinched as she continued, how was it humanly possible to scream so loud? He'd heard his fair share of screaming, but this..

He covered his ears, cringing, blinking when the screaming abruptly stopped; He looked over her head where Goku still floated in the air, having just released his own ears from trying pointlessly to protect them from the offensive noise. Goku saw the confused look Vegeta was giving him and gave a slow shrug, completely lost and confused himself. Vegeta looked down at the taller of the two girls and noticed her now grabbing her throat and head in obvious pain. Stupid girl, she deserved it. He was just about to demand an explanation for the loud screeching when the shorter girl started to scold her.

"What the hell is your problem? Are you trying to blow my head up?" Valerie demanded as she lifted her head and stopped when she realized the cause of Josie's scream. She immediately noticed the shadow to her left, and looked up to where Goku was giving her a slightly confused smile, with a slight wave. Valerie's eyes widened as her mouth dropped wide open and her body convulsed before she wildly started to scream for a few seconds. She shook her head as her voice died away, frozen with her mouth agape, staring at her childhood idol floating before her.

Josie lightly nodded, her eyes still on Vegeta, fully in agreement with Valerie's sentiment of endless screaming. Josie pursed her lips, nervously, as she took a slow step towards Vegeta who eyed her warily when she started to raise an index finger and move it towards him.

He tensed, unsure if she was preparing to attack. He blinked in surprise when she merely poked him in the stomach, she pulled her hand back, looked at him thoughtfully, and slowly proceeded to poke him again. He frowned, not stopping her only because he was so caught off guard. He glanced over at Kakarrot and saw that he was just as dumbfounded with the other girl who was holding her fists to her mouth, eyes shinning happily with tears. He heard that starting squeak again and snapped his head towards the girl in front of him, a second too late.

"Hiyaaa!" He was suddenly lying on his back on the ground with the girl on top of him, still staring wide-eyed, as she poked his arms and chest. He was about to push the girl off.

"No Vegeta!" Goku whispered desperately at him, Vegeta frowned, turning his head the other way, seeing Goku a few feet away, apparently having suffered the same fate to the even shorter girl. He looked terffied. "Don't make any sudden movements!" He whispered, fearfully, as he slowly turned to look up at the girl who started to scream again. "Aah! No please! No more! Please!" He pleaded as he covered his ears desperately.

"..Your taller than I thought." Josie said thoughtfully, as she studied the prince, with a tilted head, not noticing Valerie's screams. Vegeta turned back to her.

"Get off of me, baka onna." He demanded, pushing her off, none too gently to the side. She remained sitting sideways on the ground as she continued to study the annoyed Vegeta with a grin. "He called me baka onna. How friggin cool is that?" She asked mainly herself, seeing as Valerie was still otherwise occupied. Vegeta rolled his eyes as he stood up, dusting himself up.

"Be quiet, and while you're at it, shut your friend's mouth as well before I shut it permanently for her." Josie finally looked over at Valerie who was still unknowingly torturing the wriggling Saiyan. She got up and went to Valerie, grabbing her hand quickly, and yanking her up and off of Goku, clamping her other hand around Valerie's mouth.

"Shh." She commanded, keeping her hand there as she turned to look at the two regrouping Saiyans who were definitely, amusingly enough, scared of **them**. Keeping their firm distance now, eyeing them suspiciously.

"What kind of drugs are you two on?" Vegeta finally asked as he eyed the scratched up taller one of the two, holding quiet the shorter one, whose eyes were still wide, as she stared at them. "And where the hell did you come from!" He demanded. Josie grinned.

"You don't even know how cool this is, I swear-" She felt a lack of Valerie's mouth in the palm of her hand where she kept it to keep her quiet, and looked around for the girl, had she disappeared again? She looked down and saw Valerie unconscious on the ground, having fallen straight back. "…Val..?" She asked carefully, studying the unconscious girl with slight worry, for a moment, before shrugging it off and continuing her rant with a happy grin.

At the end of her rant, Vegeta had a anime style droplet on the side of his head, wanting to run away as fast as he could back home, get in bed, hope this was a a terribly and twisted dream and start an entirely different day - even willing to agree to a shopping trip with Bra as long as he didn't have to be here another moment longer.

"..Did I talk too fast, Veggie?" Josie asked, embarrassed, as she tightly held her hands in front of her, swinging them softly, unable to contain her excitement. His eyes widened at that.

"What-I-never, you are **never call** me that again, understand?" He demanded, taking a threatening step forward. She felt heat rise to her cheeks, in more embarrassment than fear, realizing that she was making such a fool of herself in front of her hero. She just couldn't stop the never ending flow of word vomit that kept coming out of her mouth.

"Sorry, Prince Vegeta." She corrected for his sake, hoping to stop pissing this royal and powerful guy off. He blinked surprised, but a slow, and still somewhat hesitant smirk appeared on his lips, as he nodded, more satisfied with that; A bad feeling still creeping up along his spine, questioning him quietly as to how this tiny creature knew his name.

"Better." He acknowledged.

"Anyway, what did you say earlier?" Goku asked confused, scratching the back of his head. Vegeta's eyes widened and his hands dropped.

"No, Kakarrot!-"

"Oh." Josie blinked. "I just said that this was all kind of a trip, I was just at home with my unconscious friend here." She said pointing a thumb in Valerie's direction. "And we were just goofing off with my machine and then we were here." She tried to explain. "And that you guys don't know what big fans we.." She hesitated unsure of whether they should know this.

"Ah…-wait, are you guys GT?" She asked them, frowning, as she just now noticed Goku's gi was the same as she'd seen it in the other series but it was in blue, not the usual orange. And Vegeta was wearing old armor but his hair was shorter. "This is GT!" She announced angrily, more convinced now. "What a rip! I don't know anything about GT.." She pouted slightly, unhappy with the situation. "Why aren't you tiny?" She asked Goku annoyed.

Josie turned to Valerie, "Val, isn't he supposed to be a kid-" She stopped when she remembered that her friend was out. She sighed, rolling her eyes; she took the few necessary steps to get to her and crouched down, sitting on her haunches as she studied her fallen friend. She reached out, knocking on Valerie's forehead with her closed fist. "Wake up, damn you. I don't know what to do." She commanded angrily.

She continued knocking until Valerie groaned, opening her eyes. Seeing someone else be as unhappy and confused as Josie felt, cheered her up considerably, and she smiled down at her friend. "Morning sunshine." Josie greeted, cheerfully. She saw Valerie's eyes widen as she looked up at her.

"You're still a cartoon.." Valerie uttered quietly. Josie cheerful demeanor grew somber, feeling sympathy for her friend.

"Come-on." Josie urged quietly, helping her as best she could to get back on her feet again. "You okay?" She asked, offering a hand until she was sure her friend was steady. Valerie nodded as she looked at the two Saiyans; Goku visibly cringing, and Vegeta trying to be hide his anxiety, both worried that she'd start screaming again.

"..You're not going to start screaming again, are you?" Goku finally asked, unhappily. Vegeta quickly smacked the other Saiyan, embarrassed that he'd show fear of these two, clearly inferior, creatures. Valerie finally smiled, shaking her head.

"No, don't worry. I'm sorry for screaming earlier." She said honestly. "I was just…surprised." Josie snorted at, what was, possibly the biggest understatement of the year.

"Have you happened to notice anything here Val?" Josie asked, amused that her friend hadn't caught it yet, crossing her arms.

"What," She started sarcastically. "Apart from the fact that we're in Dbz?" Valerie asked, annoyed. "No, sorry, dude, I hadn't noticed anything else particular today. I'll be sure let you know if I do though." She finished angrily. Josie nodded with a chuckle.

"Okay." She said amused, as she calmly sat down with her hands behind her to support her weight, and her legs straight in front of her. Valerie glared at her for a few seconds before turning her attention back to the Saiyans. Thirty seconds of awkward silence ensued before Valerie gasped and her eyes widened as she snapped her head back to Josie, who was patiently studying her fingernails. Valerie quickly picked her up, scrunching the top of her shirt as she held her up, making her barely graze the ground with the tips of her toes. Josie merely smiled.

"THIS IS GT!" Valerie shouted.

"Bingo." Josie said with a grin at the slow way in which Valerie's brain was working at the moment; Knowing what she must be thinking, Valerie growled and dropped her straight down seeing Josie's eyes widen for a brief second before emitting an 'Eep!' sound and falling to the ground, ungracefully. Josie sighed from her spot on the ground.

"What are we going to do?" Josie asked Valerie, unhappily.

"I don't know." Valerie said quietly, biting gently at the knuckles of her right hand, nervously.

"Where are we going to live?" Josie asked with a groan.

"I don't know." Valerie answered a bit louder.

"How are we going to explain ourselves!" Josie demanded, letting her upper body drop to fully lay on her back now, exasperated with the odd situation.

"I DON'T KN- oh why do I even bother?" Valerie asked rhetorically, throwing her hands up in exasperation, as if asking God that very question.

"Heck if I-" Josie gasped, flinching when she had started to bring her hands to put them behind her head. She quickly brought them forward to inspect them and just started to see the lacerations to her skin. She frowned at her arms that were covered in scratches, cuts and forming bruises. She saw her left hand and grimaced when she noticed it's similar state, if not worse.

"This one might needs stitches." She mumbled with a sigh as she carefully held her left forearm. She sat up, and carefully got up, nodding at Valerie. "What about you, you okay?" She asked, going towards her. Valerie checked herself out and tested out her limbs experimentally; shaking off her arms, and wrist, yelping when she shook her right wrist. Josie immediately grabbed her arm, trying to avoid some of the scratches as she studied her friend's wrist, gently moving it, making her cringe.

"Carefully.." Valerie insisted. Josie nodded, focused, as she continued to move it around.

"That's broken, Val." She finally said, gently letting it go, as Valerie cupped it with her other hand. "We should probably go see a doctor for all of this.." Josie mumbled unhappily.

"Dude we don't have any money." Valerie reminded.

"You didn't have any in your backpack?" Josie asked Valerie who gave her a look.

"Very little, and if you haven't noticed no back-" Josie pointed towards where they'd landed, and yup, right here, were both of their bags. Valerie blinked. "Huh. Would you look at that.." She mumbled with a smile. She turned to Josie with a shake of her head. "Still, not enough money to go see even the cheapest of doctors." They heard someone clear their throat and they turned to the two who were still there.

They'd been watching the two girls interaction and already on more than one occasion Goku was going to intercede and offer his help in any way, but Vegeta put a hand in front of him to stop him. Whenever they spoke amongst themselves they seemed to entirely forget they were even there, and though it was annoying and offensive, it was still to their advantage to find out more of what the hell they were and what they wanted. So far, none of their mumbled jumbo clarified anything, only added to the confusion so he thought it best to stop the needless chatter and interrogate them more fully at a later time of his choosing.

"My woman will tend to your injuries." Vegeta informed them in a tone that gave no room for argument. They merely stared as Vegeta turned to Goku. "Kakarrot?" He started. Goku turned to him. "Capsule." Goku fished around his pockets until he found his case of capsules and handed it to Vegeta without question, seeing his friend go through it, find the right one and hand the rest back to him. Vegeta pressed the button at the top of the capsule and lazily threw it forward where in a second, after a puff of smoke, appeared a convertible mustang.

Though they'd seen capsules in the show, to see them in action was an entirely different thing. The two girls eyes bugged and they forced themselves to stay quiet and not comment. Josie just quickly clapped her hands twice and excitedly went to go grab their bags before following the two Saiyans to the vehicle. Goku attempted to get into the drivers seat, and was promptly thrown to the passengers side by Vegeta. Josie got around the car to the passengers side and raised her eyebrows at him, with a large smile as she gestured towards the backseat where Valerie already sat.

"You can sit next to me, Goku." Valerie said, shyly.

…

They drove in mainly silence while the girls stared out into the world, completely fascinated. They arrived sooner than the girls hoped, wishing they had more time to look around and explore; any thoughts of exploring, however, went out the window when their eyes came upon Capsule Corp grounds. It was a building that took up seemingly more than a block. It was all enclosed in tall fence for as much privacy as possible. The house itself was large and three stories high, and they couldn't see past the white and blue dome shaped home to see the backyard but she imagined that had to be enormous as well.

Josie noted the top of the house was flat and had black railing, and imagined what the view must be like from up there and promised herself she'd check it out at some point. They followed the two men inside the double doors that immediately led to the main living room, it was nicely decorated but a lot more simple and modest than she imagined, a large TV at the far left corner of the room with multiple couches throughout the room.

"Woman!" Vegeta called into the house, startling Josie out of her thoughts. "WOMAN!" He shouted again, with little patience.

"WHAT?" Bulma shouted back from another room, a few seconds later she came out of swinging door, glaring daggers at Vegeta as she held a cup of steaming hot coffee to her chest.

"I want you to see to some injuries." He said simply, crossing his arms.

"Since when am I your nurse?" She demanded, grumpily as she took a sip of her coffee.

"And you wondered why I didn't like her.." Valerie whispered quietly to Josie, who simply nudged her to be quiet with her elbow. Vegeta heard the low whisper and glared at her.

"I heard that, brat." He warned. Valerie's eyes widened as she cringed beside Josie. Seeing his glare directed elsewhere Bulma finally noticed the presence of the two young girls, and frowned. What kind of mess had Vegeta gotten himself into this time? Josie felt, the seemingly now familiar feeling, of her heart racing as Bulma turned to look them over, frowning as she noticed their torn up clothes and injuries. Vegeta tensed when he heard the now to him familiar high pitch noise emit from the taller of the two girls. He took a step toward her.

"Don't you dare.." He hissed.

"Dare what?" Bulma asked, confused, as she now heard the loud noise herself and blinked in shock, barely able to stop herself from dropping her cup of coffee when one of the girls unleashed a small scream and started rambling happily fifty miles per hour.

"-'snowaythati'minaroomwithBulma,Goku,and Vegetaatthesametime!" Josie said quickly, happily smiling at the confused Bulma.

"I…what?" She asked, rubbing an ear.

"Would you like me to repeat myself?" Josie offered.

"NO-" Vegeta attempted.

I just said that, who would have thought that I'd be here with you, Goku, and Vegeta in the same…-" She trailed off when she saw Valerie shaking her head to stop her. "I…uh. I've…read magazine…articles, about you..?" She offered lamely trying to back peddle.

"Oh.." Bulma nodded, still unsure.

"Do not attempt to hide your true nature and origin now, you're not earthlings." Vegeta called them out. Bulma rolled her eyes at her husbands paranoia, and settled her cup of coffee on a nearby high table, before dusting her hands off and approaching the girls.

"How'd this happen?" She asked them, ignoring Vegeta. She took Josie's arm gently and asked her to remove her light jacket and helped her to do so as to cause as little pain as possible. "Sorry.." She mumbled, when she heard a small noise of complaint.

"It's fine." Josie assured, as she finally took it completely off. "We just…kind of fell." she tried to explain. Bulma sensed the hesitation to talk about it and just hoped that her husband had nothing to do with it. She nodded, not looking to press on the subject yet if she didn't want too.

"Look at you. Those are a lot of cuts." Bulma said, eyeing them. "Luckily none look too deep, except…this one will probably need stitches." She indicated to the laceration Josie had mentioned earlier. Josie nodded in reluctant agreement. "What about you?" She asked Valerie, who still held her wrist protectively.

"Mainly my wrist." She explained as she showed her, her own injuries.

"Okay." she said after a minute of checking her out. "Looks like nothing is too serious here." She looked at Josie. "Your injuries might have worried me had they continued to bleed but for the most part it looks like none are bleeding anymore. I'd like to wrap up yours, and examine only one or two that might need stitches, but they should all fade in time. And for you," She continued, turning to Valerie. "We can put a cast on that wrist and the rest of your cuts shouldn't need more than a band-aid or two." Bulma finished off, smiling at the two.

"Really?" Josie asked, excitedly.

"Of course."

"See. I told you she was awesome." Josie nudged Valerie, making Bulma laugh happily at the praise.

"How about I fix you two up one at a time and if you two want, you can join us for dinner so we can get to know each other a little better." Bulma offered with a smile, curious about the two strangely behaved girls.

"That would be great!" Josie accepted gladly. It was Valerie's turn to nudge Josie.

"We can't." She hissed.

Josie frowned. "Why not?"

"We need to find a way to get back home!" Josie rolled her eyes at Valerie's obsession, turning to her and glaring.

"Right this moment?" Valerie glared right back, indignantly.

"Yes, right now!"

Vegeta stepped forward, snarling. "Neither of you two are going anywhere until you explain yourselves. How do you know who we are and where did you come from?" He demanded.

"Vegeta!" Bulma scolded, aghast at the Saiyan's manners. "You didn't even let them introduce themselves." Shaking her head in embarrassment, she turned to the two girls, giving them an apologetic smile. "Pardon my husband, girls. I'm-"

"Bulma Briefs." Josie answered for her easily, nodding.

Bulma blinked, surprised at the ready answer. She smiled hesitantly, shaking off the surprise and nodding. "Well, yes, I'm sure you read that somewhere." She reasoned, then gestured towards Goku. "That's-"

"Son Goku." Valerie nodded.

Bulma remained silent for a beat, growing more confused and worried. "..That's right. And this, is my husband Ve-" She willingly went silent, eyeing them expectantly. When she received no answer, she began to smile in victory. "No response?" She asked, amused.

Valerie and Josie shared a small look. "No, we just realized we were being rude by interrupting, and figured we should shut up. That's Vegeta, prince of planet Vegeta-sei." Josie explained, highly excited to find herself knowledgeable amongst adults.

"How do you know that?" Bulma asked, astounded. The only information, even after all these years, out on earth was that her husband was a part of the Earth's Special Forces. After all this time, most people on earth still were unaware of the fact that he wasn't human.

"I.." Josie looked to Valerie, nervously, for some form of assistance - having not thought her previous cocky responses thoroughly. "Uh..." Josie's face scrunched up in bewilderment when she heard something. Her body tensed and her eyes widened as the others finally quieted when they heard the two male voices coming down the double set of stairs in the middle section at the end of the living room. Josie and Valerie immediately came closer to each other, eyes wide. "Could it be..?" Josie asked.

"I…I don't know, I didn't get to hear their English dubbed voices. You're the one who saw a few episodes of GT.." Valerie reminded, anxiously. Josie nodded.

"I think it is…" She whispered. The room remained in tense silence as the two, unknowing teens descended the large set of stairs into the living room and into what their father's now felt was 'ear hell'.

"Thanks for stopping by, Goten, its been a while-" The two boys stopped at the foot of the stairs when they saw the gathered group of tense people in the room.

"Oh, hello." Trunks greeted with an easy smile.

"…Freaken A." Josie muttered, eyes wide, as the two girls stared at the two demi-Saiyans. She took a step back, squealing happily as Valerie simply let out a badly controlled scream and passed back out. Josie looked over, frowning at her friend who was becoming unconscious at the most inopportune times now.

"Whoa!" Trunks yelped, startled, eyes wide as he stared at the two girls. He knew he was a great looking guy but this was the first time he'd made anyone faint at just the sight of him. He nervously chuckled as he nudged Goten who was equally astounded at the reaction from the two, but not as self-absorbed as Trunks and hadn't come to the same conclusion. He was thinking more along the lines of: maybe the girl hadn't eaten and had passed out from hunger, he frowned sympathetically knowing he would probably scream if he couldn't get some food either. He shuddered at the thought.

"Ugh!" Josie groaned, as she nudged Valerie's rib with the tip of her shoe. "Come-on, don't do this to me now, Valerie…" She sighed when she noticed it wasn't helping, and nervously looked around at the others who stared back at her silently; with millions of questions hanging heavily in the tense air.

"Hi.." She mumbled to the newcomers, anxiously, as she bit at the tip of her thumb and waved with the other, an awkward smile on her flushed face.


	3. Chapter 3: First Impression

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, too sleepy to want.

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised.

**Chapter 3: **First Impression.

Bulma smiled at the girl's obvious uneasy demeanor and put a hand to her shoulder, comfortingly. It was strange that these girls seemed to know things about them that no one outside of their assembled group knew, and she was made even wearier at the realization that Vegeta had brought them because he was possibly worried that they could be a danger to the world, or at least to them.

Looking at them now though, as she followed behind Josie and Trunks - who was carrying the unconscious Valerie for them - she couldn't help but feel her maternal instincts kicking up a notch; Though she saw why her husband was concerned, these were still only two teenager girls who, yes, maybe knew an unsettling amount of information about them but seemed pretty defenseless otherwise.

Trunks quietly put Valerie on his mother's examination table, before stepping back to allow his mother to take charge. Josie eyed the large room with awe. Though the room really had no décor, the sleek humming of all the machines in the room, utensils, bright lights above, and smell of antiseptic made Josie's nerves ease a little. Now this was something she was use to dealing with.

She smiled at Bulma who seemed to be telling her something. She blinked when Bulma ushered her into Trunks arms.

"-I just don't want you to see me set it." Bulma explained. "But I will have you back in here in no time to get started on your injuries, if you don't mind waiting a little." Josie shook her head with a smile.

"No, don't worry- HOLY COW IS THAT A REGENERATION TANK? Oh sweet Talledega Nights, that is freaken awesome!" Josie exclaimed happily, as Trunks gently pulled her out, startling a chuckle out of him. He led her down a hallway where Goku, Vegeta, and Goten still waited in the living room. Josie tensed in his arms when they came across the others.

Trunks tried to silently communicate his questions to his father through his eyes, but his father seemed to have no eyes for anyone else but for the girl at the moment. Trunks blinked at the intensity of the glare and wondered what the heck the small girl could have done to get so deeply in his father's bad graces.

"…Hi." Josie mumbled, wide eyed, again.

"Sit." Vegeta ordered, pointing to the couch he was standing in front of. Josie hesitated, taking a step back into Trunks, unconsciously.

"That's cool. I'd rather stand here if it's all the same to you." She said chuckling, nervously.

"It isn't." He said simply, pointing again. She sighed, grumbling as she went forward and sat where he'd ordered her too. The others silently gathered around her in different levels of comfort and discomfort as they sat while some stood. "Now that your friend isn't here anymore, you will tell me us the truth. Who are you?" Vegeta demanded, sitting directly in front of her on the coffee table to allow her no escape from his intimidating person. Josie

pursed her lips, nervously, hands shaking slightly on her lap, not for fear of the man before her, but of what she was supposed to say to that. What would happen if she told them the truth? Her and Valerie were at their mercy right now, and they may not feel inclined to help them if they caught her lying.

She eyed them all watching her with curiosity, as she considered her options, and slowly but surely her resolve to remain quiet dissolved with a flutter of nervous butterflies spreading throughout her belly. She was really going to do this...the question now was how to explain it? Josie cleared her throat. "I… that is, me and Val-the girl who passed out." She added for the benefit of Goten and Trunks, pointing a thumb in the direction of the infirmary. "We come from…" She hesitated, unsure of how to explain this. "We come from another universe." She finally offered, keeping her eyes firmly on Vegeta in front of her, her peripheral letting her catch a glimpse of the confused expressions of the others around her. She refused to look anywhere else right now, because she knew that **this** man before her would be the hardest to convince.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed a little at the explanation, but he too, did not look away, eventually nodding for her to continue. "Our world," Josie sighed nervously, knowing this would be the most difficult part. "Someone in it created you...we've seen you all grow up and become the fighters you are." She explained slowly, wishing that their was some other way to describe it other than voyeurism. How was she supposed to tell them that they watched them for entertainment in her world? maybe if she put a huge emphasis on how great it was for them personally and how much she and Valerie supported them throughout the years. "Me and Val have loved dbz since we were little kids." She added with an embarrassed smile.

"What's DBZ?" Goku asked curiously.

Josie tensed, had she really used that word? Wanting to excuse herself from the intense eye whip lashing Vegeta was giving her so that she could scoot to the side a few inches and repeatedly hit her forehead against the coffee table that he sat on and call herself every desparaging word she could think of on the planet. Oops didn't quite seem to cut it. "Uh, Dragon Ball Z." She muttered, glancing at Goku with a dismissive shrug, in a bad attempt to do some damage control and make the previous slip seem unimportant. Trunks choked on his saliva, and Goku's eyes widened.

"What do you know about the Dragon Balls?" He asked, surprised.

Grimacing, Josie admitted, "Everything" Sighing and wanting desperately to run her hand over her face, Josie sat back on the couch as she came to the realization that she really sucked at discretion. Valerie would throttle her if she overheard her right now.

"Everything?" Goku asked, in awe.

"Everything." Vegeta repeated with a snort of derision. "You wouldn't mind a test then, would you?" Vegeta added as an afterthought, smirking at the incredulity on her face at being questioned on the utter rubbish she was spewing and attempting to pass off as truth. Who did she think she was dealing with? he wasn't born yesterday. Crossing his arms, Vegeta stared her down with contempt as the surprise finally faded from her face to be replaced with curiosity.

"About what?" Josie asked, head tilting.

"About us." He said with a light shrug, that was truly anything but. "If you know so much." He added, the challenge in his statement quite clear.

Josie crossed her arms in response and raised her eyebrows at him in acceptance, palms tingling with excitement. "Go ahead." She agreed confidently. "Uh.." Her momentary confidence was lost in a flash, replaced by insecurity, as she reluctantly added. "As long as it's about your past. I can't say about your future.." The others shared looks, before nodding in acceptance.

"Alright." Goku started, good humored. "Who came to help when the androids attacked the earth?" Goku asked, smiling, having no reason to not believe anything she'd said up to this point. The sudden appearance of these girls was definitely the most exciting thing that had happened in the last few years of peace and he hoped they were fighters.

"Trunks." Josie answered, easily.

"Wrong." Vegeta interrupted. "Trunks was a barely born brat when the androids came, a mere child." He said with a smirk.

Josie looked at him with surprise. "You know that's not the Trunks I'm talking about - I'm talking about the Trunks from the future." She corrected with a small glare at the obvious and cheap attempt to throw her. "Mirai Trunks." Goten looked over at Vegeta, confused.

"Why did the Trunks from the future come here?" He asked, honestly not having heard about this before, and though the question wasn't directed at her, Josie answered instinctually.

"To prevent Goku from dying and to stop your earth from suffering the same fate that his did." She answered.

Goten's eyes widened even more. "What the heck! Why was my dad going to die?" He asked, panicked, arms flailing. Why did no one tell him anything?

Josie continued to answer, "He was going to die from a heart disease, for which their was no cure for at that time. Dying this way, from a natural cause, would have killed all chances of him ever being brought back, and without Goku…" She drifted off with a shrug. "The planet didn't manage well." She explained to the best of her ability.

After ten more minutes of constant questions being fired and being answered in seconds, the room fell into a tense and uncomfortable silence, while Josie continued to happily sit on the couch, looking immensely pleased with herself. So far they hadn't asked a single question that she hadn't been able to answer and Josie couldn't help but add a little fake yawn that emphasized the fact that all these questions were too easy.

Vegeta glowered. "Who killed Majin Buu?" He asked, angrily.

Annoyed that she did, indeed, have so many answers. Josie stiffened at the unexpected question. "I…I'm not sure." She admitted. "I didn't see that far." Vegeta's eyes widened at that revelation, a smirk came upon his face.

"Pathetic." He said. Josie couldn't help but glare.

"It's Funimations fault for taking so long to show it. I-it was probably Vegetto or something." She said unhappily, shrugging off the fact that she couldn't give him an answer, crossing her arms and looking away; her eyes landing on Bulma and Valerie that were just coming back into the room.

Josie's eyes widened noticing Valerie had a cast on part of her forearm and wrist. "Val." She exclaimed, blinking in surprise as she stood up. She moved past Trunks and Goten and went to stand in front of her, studying her quickly. "You okay?" She asked, worried. Valerie nodded, holding up the injured wrist.

"Sure, I'm fine, just got this new souvenir." Bulma patted Valerie's shoulder.

"She did pretty well." Bulma said, with a smile. "How about you, honey, you ready?" She asked. Josie tightened up, and she gave her a nervous smile.

"..Sure." She mumbled. Bulma laughed lightly, as she put her arm around Josie's shoulder and started to lead her down the corridor that she and Valerie had come from a few moments ago.

"How would you like to get in the regeneration tank you saw earlier?" Bulma offered as they walked. "Only for a little while, that way you don't have to deal with any nasty unnecessary pain and run no risk of keeping any scars when your healed." Bulma explained. Josie's eyes widened.

"Really?" She asked, voice faded as they delved further in the corridor. Valerie rolled her eyes, with a smile as she heard her friends excitement carry through all the way over here. She turned, and blinked in surprise, much like Josie had done when she'd come across the room of Saiyans who stared at her. She felt even more uncomfortable than Josie did with the attention.

"So." Vegeta started, raising an eyebrow, unconcerned with her discomfort. "What can you tell us about this 'Dragon Ball Z'?" He asked. Valerie's eyes widened, she turned her head to glare at the corridor that Josie had just been in. She was going to kill that girl.

"It's kind of like a show." She mumbled, nervously, as she looked down at her shoes, scratching the tip of her shoe on the carpeted floor. "That we watch. Josie watches the american dubbed version but I like to watch the original Japanese version."

"Why's that?" Goku asked, smiling at the scared girl, wishing she would look up so he could reassure her that she was in no danger. She shrugged, eyes remaining trained on the ground.

"It's just better." She said. "They allow you to see more...violence." She mumbled, embarrassed, blushing at the thought that these people probably now thought she was a deprived freak who got a kick out of blood and gore. "And it's a bit more perverted." She added, hoping that would diminish her earlier statement and cringed when she realized what she just said was probably worse than her confessing she enjoyed violence.

"Perverted?" Trunks asked, amused. "In what way?"

"I don't know." She mumbled nervously. "Like…Goku's pat pat and Roshi's puff puff." She said quickly, beyond embarrassed, wishing she was back in the infirmary getting her wrist re-set again than go through this.

"What are you talking about, human?" Vegeta asked, annoyed at this girl because all this one did was stutter and blush. She snapped her head up at the tone, and would have shrank back further if she hadn't also noticed Goku cringing from her words. She looked at him curiously, wondering if he remembered any of this.

"Pat-pat?" He asked her nervously, his cheeks staining red. She smiled with a gentle nod.

"You remember?" She asked. He groaned with a laugh, as he nervously started to scratch the back of his head.

"Sort of." He said, ducking his head.

"Huh." Valerie mumbled, intrigued. "So I guess this is a mix of the American and Japenese version?"

"I'm confused." Goten stated, unhappily, why was their so much he didn't know? The fact that whatever they were talking about had his father blushing surprised him immensely. Valerie glanced at him.

"Well, when Goku was a little guy and lived with only his grandpa, he didn't ever get to see any other human beings, so when he finally did start to interact with them he had a bit of trouble telling the difference between a boy and a girl-" She stopped at Vegeta's choked cough.

"KAKARROT?" Vegeta asked in amazement, eyes wide. His mouth twitched as he tried in vain to stop from laughing. "I…I knew you were stupid but this.." He exhaled, in complete disbelief.

Valerie continued, "Well, eventually he developed a way to tell the difference; by patting the area between a person's legs." She explained, smiling with fondness at Goku who only blushed more. Goten and Trunks doubled over, howling with laugher, as did even Vegeta, surprising Valerie.

"It's not that funny!" Goku tried to defend, grinning with embarrassment as he ducked his head even further.

"What an idiot." Vegeta howled, holding his side that hurt from so much laughter. Valerie glared at him.

"Yeah well, I'm sure you wouldn't be laughing if you knew who the first person to receive a pat-pat was." She mumbled defensively, unhappy now that she'd accidentally embarrassed her hero. Just like that, Vegeta's laughter silenced, he turned to her, eyes narrowing.

_Uh oh._ She thought, eyes wide.

"What was that?" He demanded, although he had heard exactly what she'd said. Valerie gulped, trying desperately to think of a way to answer this without loosing her head. If she told him the truth, he'd kill her, if she refused, then he'd still kill her.

"What?" She asked, nervously, trying to feign innocence.

"Do not play dumb with me, girl. I heard what you said." He confirmed, angrily.

"Heard her say what?" Goku asked, anxiously. "I didn't hear her say anything." He laughed nervously.

"Shut up Kakarrot, I was not asking you. One of you will tell me the truth if you don't want me to scatter your ashes in the wind." Thankfully, at that moment Bulma came up behind Valerie with a smile for everybody.

"Hey guys, I just put Josie in the tank, she should be ready to come out in another fifteen minutes." She announced, stopping when she noticed the tension in the room, and the way that Valerie was now hiding behind her. She looked behind her, in confusion, then at the others. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Woman." Vegeta called. "Who did Kakarrot…who did he do this, stupid thing I'm hearing about, to? This pat-pat?" He asked, watching her carefully for a reaction, one, which she immediately gave. Her eyes widened considerably, and her face paled, as she looked between Goku and Vegeta.

"Who-I-h-how did this come up?" She asked, angrily. Everyone immediately pointed to the girl hiding behind her. Valerie's eyes widened even more, she glared at them all (Except for Vegeta, she wisely skipped him).

"Woman!" He demanded. "Who?" Bulma sighed heavily as she stared at Vegeta hoping that he'd just let it go; when she saw that he was adamant about figuring this out, she rolled her eyes and threw her hands upwards in exasperation.

"It was me, okay! Geez. It wasn't a big deal, Vegeta, we were both kids and- …Vegeta?" Bulma asked, hesitantly, as she saw the vein at the temple of her husbands face start to tic, his jaw locked tightly. She nervously chuckled. "It really wasn't a big deal.." She tried again.

"Yeah, Vegeta." Goku defended nervously, as he too, noted the expression on the older Saiyan's face. They'd both known him long enough to know that the guy was going to start getting physical pretty soon, if they didn't cool him off. "It meant nothing and-frankly, her girl parts scared me-" He shrunk back at the glare that Bulma gave him.

"UGH!" Trunks groaned, covering his ears fiercely to tune out the gross situation that was quickly developing in front of him. "I'M GOING TO GO CHECK ON THE NEW GIRL." He shouted, still wishing he could block out the offensive images his mind was trying to show him as he left the room.

"Psst." Goten silently hissed in Valerie's direction, she blinked at him from behind Bulma, confused as to what he could possible want to tell her that was important enough to discuss now; while Trunks mother yelled at his father about her private parts being perfectly normal and that he was just the small freak-alien child, who had no idea what he was talking about. Valerie carefully made slow steps towards Goten who carefully did the same, trying desperately not to catch the grown-ups attention.

"Yeah?" She whispered, when they finally stood beside each other, a few steps away from Bulma, and so close to swinging doors that could possibly lead away from this mess.

"You might want to sneak out of here." He advised. "I've seen that look on Vegeta's face before. Theirs probably going to be some fighting." He warned. She gulped, as she looked back at the others guiltily.

"Because of me." Valerie mumbled, miserably. Goten shrugged it off with a smile.

"Don't worry, this happens at least once a week." He tried to reassure.

"-I didn't know Bulma!" Goku defended weakly. "I did it to Chichi too and she didn't-"

"YOU WHAT?" Bulma shouted, outraged.

…

Down the hallway, Trunks had just opened the door and entered the infirmary where the other girl was still sound asleep in the regeneration tank. He carefully closed the door, looking over his shoulder at her, as he did so. Once he was sure that no others were going to follow and force him back out there to listen to the apparently gross tales of his parent's teenage years, he turned his attention back to the new girl.

What had his mom called her?

"Josie." He mumbled, quietly, trying out the word. He studied her for a minute, before unwittingly turning his attention away to a large cabinet on the opposite wall of her. Usually the cabinet was stockpiled with medical scrubs outfits, but right now he was only seeing some light gray scrubs bottoms, with unisex drawstrings. He pulled it out with a sigh, unhappy that that was all they appeared to have at the moment. He lightly threw them on a small metal table nearby and glanced over at Josie. She seemed to be only a little bigger than Bra's size, maybe he could let her borrow one of his sister's bigger shirts, if she had any.

He left the room, glad that he had another seven minutes before she woke up. Trunks carefully maneuvered behind his mother and quietly crept up the stairs, cringing and quickening his pace when he heard the sounds of glass breaking, shouting, and all out chaos behind him. He quickly went through Bra's closet, finding the nearest white t-shirt, and exiting the very essence of girly that his sister's room always radiated. He never liked being in there for long periods of time.

He jogged back down the stairs, stopping midway down with his mouth wide open. Their front window was broken with his mother standing by it screaming curses, apparently, at his father who he wasn't surprised had probably been responsible, that wasn't what caught him off guard though; It was the strongest man in the universe sitting at the far corner of the room who was hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth gently. He was clearly scared and mumbling something to his son who kneeled beside him, patting his back comfortingly, blushing lightly in embarrassment as he tried to quietly explain to Valerie who stood a few feet behind them, why he was behaving that way. Trunks too a few hesitant steps forward, unsure if he wanted to get involved in this new mess.

"…Did anybody mention needles?" He asked finally, too curiously to keep hiding. His mom snapped her head in his direction, turning her fierce glare on her son, and then looking in annoyance at her childhood friend.

"Yes!" Bulma angrily said. "All I did was mention that I'd put Josie in the regen tank to avoid any bandages and needles and the dumb Saiyan pulls a Hercule." She explained, gesturing at his fetal position. Trunks chuckled lightly. "Ugh." She grumbled, shaking her head at the infuriating Saiyans in her life; first one blows up on her over something that happened over **twenty years ago,** and the other starts whining like a baby over needles that weren't even there! She glanced at Trunks, with a sigh. "I'm TRYING to take care of the food on the stove, can you do me a favor and deal with-" He nodded, holding a hand up.

"Don't even worry about it, got her covered." Trunks assured, holding up the shirt as proof. Bulma nodded, giving him a tight smile, genuinely grateful.

"Thank you, sweetheart." She said honestly, as she disappeared through the double doors.

"Come-on, dad!" Goten tried to reason with his, still, scared father. He put his arm underneath him, trying to heave him up, but his dad insisted on staying where he was. Valerie went to his other side, both trying to encourage him up as well. "You have to get up before Vegeta comes back, dad!" Goten insisted. Trunks took a step back before turning around and heading down the corridor of that first floor.

He entered the infirmary again and saw he still had two minutes before Josie came out. He neatly folded her clothes and took out a few towels, setting those aside incase she needed more. He leaned against the examination table that stood in the middle of the room, a few feet in front of the Regen tank she was currently in. He comfortable leaned there, with a towel in his hands, as he crossed his arms and watched her closed eyes, waiting for her to wake up. He didn't have to wait more than 2 minutes before her face started scrunching up lightly, and without a warning, suddenly sneezed. He blinked in surprise, it had kind of looked like she sneezed anyway; he smiled in amusement.

He had seen a ton of his friends and his father spend time in a regeneration tank throughout his entire life, but he could say with sincerity that he had NEVER witnessed anyone sneeze in that thing. Josie frowned, opening her eyes, as she, startled, looked at her surroundings. Her eyes almost immediately locked on his, and he stepped forward, pressing a few buttons. She heard a click and the water started to slowly drain. It didn't even take a minute for the water to disappear and he opened the door wordlessly, leaning in a little to help her remove the mask that covered her nose and face. When he was pulling it off her head, he noticed her nose twitch, as she thoughtfully frowned. He stopped.

"…Did you sneeze in there?" He asked, surprised, unable to hide the amusement in his voice. He thought he'd just been imagining it. She raised her head to look at him, still looking thoughtful.

"…I think so." She nodded, confused. He laughed as he pulled back and offered a hand, helping her gently out.

"I didn't even think that was possible." He said, grinning, as he wrapped a towel around her clothed body. Most of the time the warriors went in there clad in only their underwear but he had been pretty confident that his mom had let this girl go in there fully clothed.

"Me either." Josie admitted, finally laughing, as she gratefully held the large towel to herself and rubbed her eyes and face with it. Trunks smiled at her infectious laughter as she stretched, and closed the regeneration tank's door and locked it securely.

"You feel better?" He asked, as he fully shut down the machine with his back turned to her. She studied what he was doing and nodded.

"Yeah." She quickly added, realizing he couldn't see her.

"Glad to hear it." He said honestly. "There's some clothes on the table there, I know it's not much but it's all we have on hand at the moment." He said sheepishly, turning back towards her as she studied the clothes with a grateful smile.

"Their perfect, thank-" She bit her lip suddenly as she held the clothes, and glanced at him, before quickly looking back at the clothes, blushing.

"What's wrong?" He asked, straightening up, confused.

"Nothing." She quickly tried to reassure. He raised an eyebrow, and silently waited it out, knowing she was lying. She sighed, and the blush on her face got even brighter. "It's just…there's no undergarments here." She tried to explain.

"Oh." He mumbled, stunned, as blush rose to his face as well and the two teenagers quietly remained in the awkward silence.

…

Trunks had been unable to do anything but offer his trademark GT brown jacket and hastily retreat to let her do the best she could with what she had. He tried to shake of the blush still staining his cheeks as he came back into the living room just in time to see Goten coming in from the double doors that led to the kitchen, holding a large pot of rice. He frowned.

"Goten?" He questioned. Goten spared a quick look for his best friend, before continuing on his mission towards his father. "What are you doing?" He asked, confused, as he stepped forward.

"Vegeta's back, your mom and Valerie are trying to distract him outside and give us a little time to escape but my dad's not snapping out of it. Yet." Goten took a deep breath, looking genuinely troubled by what he was about to do. "I'm sorry dad, this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you." Goten assured, holding the pot over his head and quickly spilling it's steaming hot contents on his father's head, before Trunks could do little more than widen his eyes.

That definitely did the trick though, Goku's eyes widened to abnormal proportions for a few seconds, before jumping up and bumping his head on the ceiling. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS!" Goku shouted in shock, as he landed back down, scrambling in circles for a solution to the pain. He grabbed his youngest son by the collar of his shirt. "Goten it's going down my shirt!" He shouted, frantically, as he furiously and without much progress tried to pat down what felt like fire all over his body.

Goku jogged in place desperately. "HOTHOTHOT! Help!" He demanded. The two half-breeds tried in vain to shake his shirt, but now some had managed to get into his trousers.

"KAKARROT!" Vegeta shouted, rushing through the window, and glaring menacingly at his nemesis. He momentarily looked confused, but his glare came back full force as he realized that his rival much be dancing in place in a deviously cunning strategic move to merely distract him and make him forget all about the lower class' transgressions.

"I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!" Goku shouted, before taking off out the window, hoping to make it to the nearest body of water.

"Come back here, Kakarrot!" Vegeta demanded, as he too, took off in pursuit of the younger Saiyan. Their was a moment of eery silence in the living room of the partially destroyed Briefs home, before Goten sighed. Trunks glanced at him.

"..What a waste of food." Goten simply mumbled, unhappily, looking genuinely upset at the remainders of rice on the ground. Trunks rolled his eyes, but froze when he saw his mother enter the house and glare murderously at the two with Valerie who was following at a good distance, recognizing the woman's foul mood immediately.

"Heya mom…" Trunks greeted, uncomfortably.

"What did you…" Vein throbbing on her forehead, Bulma clenched her jaw in an attempt to reign her fury. "Never mind," She hissed through clenched teeth. "You two get this place cleaned up. Now. Or no Playstation for a year." She threatened, angrily, before storming off towards the stairs to make a few calls from her office to fix some of the damage inflicted on her home by her own family.

"Phew." Trunks loudly exhaled, grinning at his best friend and giving him a firm pat on the back. "That's not so bad. Who has time for that anyway?" He asked, happy that they hadn't gotten into more trouble. Bulma froze at the stairs, turning slowly back to the boys.

"You're right." She said simply, taking the two necessary steps to get back down on the floor. "That wasn't bad enough." She said, crossing her arms. "Clean this place up AND get that window replaced or else Goten gets no food whenever he comes to visit." Goten's eyes bugged out at that.

"WHAT?" Before she could blink, Goten was clinging to her pants leg with a look of absolute horror on his young face. "Bulma, no!" He pleaded, horrified. "Please, please, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'll never do anything mean or bad ever again, but please, please feed me!" He squeaked pathetically, burying his face on her knee, shaking like a leaf in fear.

"Geez Goten." Trunks groaned with a roll of his eyes. "What a wuss." Bulma looked up at her eldest son and raised an eyebrow. She patted Goten's shoulder, urging him to get up. He did so, sniffling, and she smiled in affection for the simple half-Saiyan miniature Goku.

"Don't worry Goten, you can eat." She assured. His face immediately lit up and he crushed the blue haired genius to his chest, happily.

"Thankyou- thank you!" He shouted, joyously.

"Goten!" She scolded, hitting him once to make him let her go. He took the hint and sheepishly did as she requested. She laughed lightly, and them remembered her belligerent son and her eyes narrowed, who was carefully trying to make another escape.

"And Trunks." She called. He froze.

"Yes, mother?" Trunks asked, sweetly, as he turned back towards her trying to dazzle her with the charm he'd inherited from her.

Unaffected, Bulma dealt the final blow, "The mirror in your bedroom and bathroom will be removed, as will your combs, hair spray, gel, mouse, and I personally will make sure that you have access to no others in this house. See how you like being in the office with unprofessional hair. " Trunks gasped in horror.

"What." He took a step forward, shocked. "Mom…no." She was about to start walking away and he hurried to catch her. "Wait, mom, no please - I'm new you can't do thi- Wait! I'm sorry! I really am! I'll do anything! I-I'll um..clean the windows, take out the garbage, feed and walk the dog - anything!" He begged desperately. "Mercy mother! Have mercy on my poor, lost, misguided soul!" He cried. She turned to him, looking completely unmoved.

"No." She said simply.

"Mom!" He whined. She wrangled her arm out of his grasp and turned back the other way, hoping to get away from her son. She tried to go up the stairs this time, instead of trying to go down the corridor. "PLEASE!" He shouted, throwing himself at his mother's feet, pounding on it in a desperate attempt to sway her. "PLEASE MOM! I'm sorry!"

"Trunks, will you get up?" Bulma ordered, embarrassed.

"No!" He said stubbornly, holding onto her ankles for emphasis. "Not till you forgive me and give me my things back!"

"FINE!" Bulma shouted, annoyed. "You can have your hair supplies back." She offered, trying to wiggle her ankle free from her son's supernatural strength.

Trunks held on. "WHAT ABOUT MY MIRROR?" He demanded, wide eyed, as he stared up at her.

"That too, Now let go, Trunks!" He pushed off the floor in a moment and hugged her tightly.

"Thanks mom!" He said, happily.

Bulma sighed, fighting not to show her amusement, as her son held her tightly. "Oh and Trunks?"

"Yes, mother?" Trunks asked blissfully happy, smiling with his eyes closed.

"We don't have a dog." Bulma reminded. Trunks stopped swaying them at that and opened his eyes with a small frown. With the distraction she was able to pull away and leave up the stairs to momentarily get away from the infuriating Saiyans in her life. Trunks wiped the staged tears with the backs of his hands and turned around, annoyed to see that Goten had remained there for the spectacle.

Goten stood there with his arms crossed with a large grin on his face, looking like he just witnessed the Piece de Resistance from the best show of all time. Goten opened his mouth and Trunks glare intensified, waiting for it- and Goten did not disappoint. "…And I'm supposed to be a wuss.." Goten reminded, gleefully.

"Shut up Goten." Trunks muttered, straightening up, trying to regain as much of his dignity as possible, as he walked to the swinging doors that led to the kitchen area.

"Trunks?" Goten called, stopping Trunks as he opened the door to leave.

"What, Goten?" Trunks asked, a little annoyed.

"…A dog?" Goten asked, with a smirk.

"Be quiet!" Trunks shouted as he pushed the door angrily and stormed off - ignoring the pearls of laughter that erupted from his best friend the moment he left the room.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

"_Dinner should be on in about 2 hours. Take it easy till then girls." She said with a smile, as she left. Josie and Valerie looked at each other for a moment before breaking out into happy shouts, and jumps._

**End Sneak Peek**.

* * *

**Note: **I keep thinking I should be all smooth and clever with the timing of my updates so that I ge tthe most reviews out of it, but the the truth of the matter is I think 7 years is enough of holding out on updates lol (That sounds so weird to say!) and I'm just not patient enough anymore to do that, so I'm just going to hope I get a few anyway and we continue to move onwards! Thank you! Ja ne! ~*~Princess Geta ~*~


	4. Chapter 4: Unmatched Ability

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Db/z/Gt.

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 4: **Unmatched Ability.

Josie was taking her hair out from within Trunks brown coat when Valerie came into the infirmary. She glanced at her, before getting back to fixing her clothes.

"You changed." Valerie said, blinking with surprise. Josie nodded, gesturing towards her wet clothes.

"Most of that was bloody and wet." She explained. She turned to Valerie, opening her arms. "what do ya think?" She asked. She was wearing the same shoes she'd brought to this world, Trunks had let her borrow a pair of Bra's clean socks, she had on the light gray scrubs pants with a form fitting, white t-shirt, wearing Trunks CC jacket that fit much too big. Valerie merely shrugged.

"You look alright I guess, except for the jacket - that just looks ridiculous on you." She said, chuckling. Josie glared, holding the coat tighter. It didn't matter to her, it was comfortable, and not to mention, an awesome souvenir if she managed to keep it. She smiled at that thought, and attemped to roll up the sleeves with little success.

"So what's going on out there?" Josie asked, conversationally, distracted with her sleeves. Valerie shrugged.

"Pretty crazy stuff, Saiyan's running around - breaking things, hot rice on Goku, Goten and Trunks crying like a bunch of babies." She nodded. "Pretty memorable stuff." She was gratified when she saw Josie's eyes widen, as she looked over at her in disbelief.

"..You're kidding me." She gaped. Valerie grinned.

"I kid you not." She assured, boastfully.

"This, I have got to see.." Josie mumbled, going past Valerie, stopping when the door opened.

"Oh. Good, your both here." Bulma said with a light smile for the two girls. "Trunks caught up with me and explained to me the clothes situation so I thought I'd come down here and help." She said, smiling.

…

Bulma led them down into one of the sub-basements, where they had absolutely nothing but equipment and stored supplies. They got a few necessary articles of clothing for the girls and Bulma led them onto the second floor of Capsule Corp where they had the family's quarters and into a spare bedroom.

"Wow, this is a beautiful room." Josie complimented Bulma with a smile, as they stood in the middle of the large room. "This yours?" She inquired, politely.

Bulma smiled, shaking her head. "No, my bedroom is down a few hallways." She said gesturing. "This is the children's wing, for when they had guests." She explained. Josie's eyes widened slightly, impressed. Bulma eyed their reactions to the room, thoughtfully. "Girls.." She started carefully, happy to see she had both their undivided attentions. "I only got to talk to Vegeta briefly about what he knows about you two, and he explained what you two individually said about where you come from. Is it true you're not from this planet?" Bulma asked curiously.

"Yeah." Valerie said, chuckling at how weird it was to nearly have to explain themselves as aliens. Bulma nodded, digesting this for a moment.

"Well…Do you guys know how to get home?" She asked, feeling a strong mixture of regret about asking and compassion for their situation when the two excited girls grew somber, the light in their eyes dimming as the gravity of their situation finally began to sink in.

They were stranded here with no way of getting home and no means to take care of themselves.

"No," Valerie admitted quietly. "And_ that's_ why we should be leaving soon to try and figure it out." Valerie said, looking meaningfully at Josie; her eyes narrowing when Josie ignored her look and pretended to be distracted with the furniture.

"What if you can't figure out how to do that tonight?" Bulma asked, worried. "What'll you do?"

"Keep trying." Valerie said firmly, keeping her eyes on Josie who still refused to meet her gaze. Bulma saw the silent tension between the two, and sat down on the bed, in thought.

"Do your parents know you're here?" She asked finally, glancing up.

"No." Josie mumbled, unhappily, as she still stared at the wall. "I don't see any way for us to communicate with them on this plane." She explained, sighing, finally turning to look at Bulma but avoiding Valerie. "The way we got here was through a machine, and the place where we landed," She shook her head. "Their was no trace of it. Without it, I don't know how we'd get back."

"Yeah right." Valerie remarked back. "You can just as easily build another one of those things and take us back home, but the thing is that you just don't want too." She accused, angrily. Josie turned to glare at her.

"Is that what you really think?" Josie demanded. "That I'd keep you here against your will? I may want to stay here, but I'm not an idiot, Val, I know that we have to go back but the way we came here is _not_ an option." She said forcefully. "…I would have no idea of h-how to even start something like that again, to find the exact same parts?" She shook her head furiously. "We could end up somewhere completely different, we need a definite way to know that we're heading back home, and _only_ home." Josie said firmly.

"What about the dragon balls?" Valerie suggested quietly. Josie nodded.

"That's what I was thinking." Josie agreed with a sigh, finally feeling the tension in her shoulders relax at them finally beginning to come to an agreement. "That way, we can wish to go back home and we can turn back time there or something so that they never even noticed that we were gone." Josie announced with a grin. "Except we should probably ask that we keep our memory, that way we don't end up doing the same thing over again." Josie offered with a shrug. Valerie finally smiled back, nodding.

"That's good." She said, turning to Bulma for approval, who nodded after a minute.

"That sounds like a pretty good idea... Except that the dragon balls are not going to be active for at least another… 6 months?" She estimated. "Stupid old man Roshi made the most pointless wish a little while back and -" She shuddered at the annoying memory and shook her head.

"Six months?" Both girls asked simultaneously, one sounded incredulous and distressed and the other one sounded thrilled; it was pretty easy to guess which reacted in what way. Bulma nodded, sympathetically.

"What are we going to do?" Josie asked with false concern, trying to hide her smile from Valerie who glared at her menacingly, not buying the act for a minute.

"You're pretty naïve, you know that?" Valerie spat out, angrily. "I bet all you can think about is all the exciting people you can meet in that time. Here's something else I'm sure hasn't penetrated your bubble of excitement. Where the hell are we going to live- Bulma, pardon my language." Valerie mumbled, as an afterthought, forgetting that they were not alone.

Josie pursed her lips in thought; Valerie was right, and contrary to what her friend thought, the question had crossed her mind, long before now. She had figured that Valerie might want her to build a replacement for the machine that brought them here, but with no knowledge of such machinery, she had no idea where to start, and wondered, even if she _were_ to attempt the doomed project again, where would they live in the meanwhile?

"I don't know." Josie answered honestly, looking right at Valerie.

Valerie nodded, finally beginning to feel vindicated. "That's what I thought." She grouched with a shake of her head.

"_Ahem._" Bulma cleared her throat to interrupt the two girls. It was pretty interesting hearing their back and forth discussions, but she **had** brought them up here for a purpose. "Guys?" She started, the two girls turning towards her. "You know, I didn't just bring you up here to enjoy a view of the pool in our backyard." Josie took a step in the direction of the window, and nodded, impressed.

"It really is a nice pool." She complimented anyway. Bulma glanced out the window as well with a smile, amused.

"Thank you," She grinned dryly. "I had it redone just a few years back. It took me a long time to convince my parents to let me rebuild it but when they finally retired they let me-" She stopped, realizing she'd allowed herself to get sidetracked. She shook her head, smiling in embarassment. "In any case, you weren't brought up here for that. Like I said earlier, I talked to Vegeta - and though I won't lie to you guys and tell you that he's terribly worried about your welfare - he did still agree with me that keeping you here was for the best." _To keep a closer eye on you, _Bulma finished in her mind. She didn't particularly care that that was the only reason Vegeta had agreed to them staying in their home she just cared that she'd gotten him to agree. "That is, if you two wanted too." She retracted carefully. "Just while you figure out what your going to do at least. Coming so abruptly to this world, I don't imagine that you two had any time to prepare for such a trip, and I don't imagine either of you brought any money to rent some kind of living quarters until you go back home.

"And I really can't deny that we've got plenty of space here." Bulma signaling to their surroundings, with a smile. "So if you guys don't mind abiding by a few house rules...you two are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need too." She offered honestly. She knew in her heart that these two girls didn't deserve all the suspicion that her husband claimed was necessary.

All she knew now was that these two young girls - so much like her own two kids - were in an unknown world and needed a place to stay. And she was not about to deny that basic necessity to these two lost kids. "What do you say?" Bulma finally asked, a little nervous as the silence began to stretch out.

Josie wanted to shout YES at the top of her lungs, but looked over at Valerie, knowing that the girl was probably going to have a million protests all ready to launch at as to why that wouldn't be a good idea and how they needed to torture themselves by starving out in the cold and blah-di-blah-blah. Josie crossed her arms, arching a brow, and tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for the rebuttal and the excuses to pour out.

Valerie saw the look and knew what Josie expected her to do, but as she continued to think over the proposition and the non-existant other options, she found herself taking a deep breath, turning to Bulma and giving her a genuine smile of gratitude. "Thank you Bulma. There's….no way we'll that we will ever be able to repay you for this." She said honestly.

Bulma's posture relaxed as they agreed, knowing just like Josie already, that Valerie would be the one who would need more convincing. She stood up, happily.

"Its not a problem at all." Bulma assured, clapping her hands together with satisfaction. "This'll be your room then." She said to Josie, as she went towards the door to leave.

"We could switch off on the beds." Josie offered to Valerie. "There's a couch and everything." She noted with pleasure. Valerie nodded.

"Sounds good to me." She agreed, with a shrug. Bulma stopped as she opened the door, eyeing them with confusion.

"What are you - you guys." She interrupted with shock and amusement. "You don't have to -You're not sharing a room." She said laughing lightly. "I meant that this is your room,** Josie.** Valerie, your room is across from Josie's, may I show you it?" She asked, receiving no answer from the two flabbergasted girls.

"…This room is just for..me?" Josie asked, eyes wide. The room was pretty big, easily the size of her living room back home, or it was possibly even bigger than that. Their was a lovely Aynsley bed in Majestic Finish in a corner of the room. It was a small queen sized bed with a light brown duvet with darker brown pillows against the railing, sitting across from the door that led into the large hallway. Beside the bed their was a dark brown solid wood end table, with a long decorative lamp upon it. A few feet to the left of that was a Gillows-style Mahogany desk. It stood on two columns on brass castors. Their was an inset leather writing surface that was hand-colored and had a dark honey color at the top surface. The Desk sat beautifully with nothing atop it, and a matching chair in front of it. A tall and simple tropical plant sat between the desk and the corner of the room. Their were two sliding doors there that hid a walk in closet, and against the opposite wall facing the desk, was a light yellow couch with two small pillows.

"Yup." Bulma confirmed with a big smile, stepping back into the room as the two girls were still clearly in shock. The wall beside the door that led to the hallway protruded straight out, and had a sharp corner. The wall that went left there, had another door, a few steps next to the light yellow couch. Bulma signaled the door and opened it. "With a bathroom." She said amused as the girl's eyes widened even more. Josie choked a little on her salivas as she stepped forward and into the bathroom. It was by no mean the biggest thing that she'd ever seen but it was at least the size of her 1 ½ bathroom back home.

"Wow." She mumbled, quietly. "Bulma…I." She looked at Valerie for assitance. "This is too much for me." She flustered. "We can share.." Bulma shook her head with a light laugh.

"Really, we have more than enough space." She assured leading the two girls out, ending up having to grab a girl each by the hand and pull them outside of the room and to the room directly across from it. Stepping into the room the two girls noted that it looked a lot like Josie's room, except the room was a little darker in color scheme and everything was backwards.

"This is the room that Goten use to stay at whenever he came over - since it's right next to Trunk's, but well have him switch to the one on the other side of Trunks. I want you two to be close to each other's rooms." She explained, as Valerie was about to offer the room back up.

"It's beautiful." Valerie admitted, looking around. Josie nodded, as she bounced lightly on the bed. Bulma eyed it.

"I like it." She said with a smile. "This room faces the east, so this room gets the sun in the morning, hence why we went with a slightly darker color scheme in this room. It really doesn't need too much light in here during the day." She explained. Valerie nodded as she went to the singular window and pulled aside the curtain to look out.

"You can see part of the town." Valerie said, with a smile. Bulma went behind her.

"Yeah, it's got a good view of some of the city." She said with a nod. She pulled back, patting Valerie's back and Josie's shoulder as she passed her on her way to the door. "I'm going to let you girls get settled and prepare dinner. If you need anything. Theirs a small set of heart shaped stickers outside of Bra's bedroom that leads to the living room downstairs. It's not hard though, just go straight down this hallway, north, if that helps you any, and make a right, and go straight down the stairs, past that is the dinning area." She explained. "Dinner should be on in about 2 hours. Take it easy till then girls." She said with a smile, as she left. Josie and Valerie looked at each other for a moment before breaking out into happy shouts, and jumps. After a few minutes of the rambunctious behavior the two let their upper bodies drop on Valerie's bed to rest, with happy smiles on their faces.

"Can you believe this is happening to us, Val?" Josie asked, with a smile.

"Big no." Val mumbled. Josie glanced over and saw that Valerie was tired. She got up.

"I'm going to let you take a small nap while I get my things in my room." She chuckled at that. "**My room**-sounds so weird." She mumbled as she made her way out of the room and into her own. Her bag was already on her small couch along with a box. She smiled, knowing that had to have been Bulma - she went to her bedroom's window once more. Bulma's yard was gigantic. A large pool to the left surrounded by tanning chairs and a barbeque pit. Wide open grass all around that and to that far end of the property was a dome shaped building. _Ten bucks says that's the Gravity Chamber. _She thought with some amusement.

"Exploring time." She quietly said to herself, as she turned back to the room and with determination went to the box, beside her bag that Bulma had given her with some of her essentials. She went into the bathroom and put on the undergarments now, thankfully provided by the always prepared Bulma, and hid away Trunks coat, hoping he wouldn't remember about it. She definitely intended to keep whatever souvenirs she managed to get from this world. She happily left the room and made her way downstairs, realizing, when she made another round of the same set of doors that she was a bit lost. She rolled her eyes at her own inability to find anything, and found a door at the end of the corridor. She went to it and found herself outside now. "Huh." She huffed, with a smile.

The backyard was even more beautiful with the additions of smells and sounds. She could hear birds chirping and the constant flow of new water being poured into the pool by the neat small man-made waterfall beside it. She carefully walked around the lot, going to a beautifully maintained garden at the far side of the property, knowing that that was probably made and kept by Bulma's mother until she left; she couldn't picture Bulma bothering to care for the flowers herself now and imagined she had someone else do it. _Or maybe a robot, s_he thought with some amusement at the idea of robot gardeners. She stopped when she was near the dome shaped building she'd seen from her room, earlier. She cautiously looked around, and quickly shuffled to it, stopping in front of the place. Their was a large red light before the door that was currently on, and a sign underneath it read 'Occupied'.

_He's probably inside now. _She thought to herself, unconsciously bring her index finger to her chin as she thoughtfully looked over the design. She had to admit that a part of her wanted to go inside and see what it must be like in there, but she wasn't completely daft; she knew that she'd go splat in a matter of seconds if she stepped a foot in there. "It's too bad we didn't come to this world and were these all powerful random Saiyan females that leave Vegeta and Goku in awe of our strength and beauty." She joked with a smile. She'd read a ton of stories back home that always somehow happened.

_No, we didn't manage to impress them with any power…we just left Vegeta and Goku angry and very, very confused._ She thought, laughing. After a minute her laughter died down and the beginnings of an idea started to form in her mind. She bit her bottom lip as she studied the distance between the gravity room and the house, wondering, if she pressed a button - hopefully it wouldn't do anything - but if it _did,_ would she be able to run back inside before she got in trouble with Vegeta?

…

A few minutes earlier, Valerie had gone to check on Josie in her room. She had laid in bed for a little while, trying to wrap her brain around what had happened to them within the last few hours, and after a little while, she stopped trying. It was just too surreal. She went in Josie's room after knocking on the door for a minute or so without any response. She carefully opened it and let the door go with a sigh when she noticed her friend was not there at all.

"Figures.." She mumbled, as she glanced in Josie's bathroom. The girl couldn't stay still for two seconds since they came into this world. A light had turned on inside her friend eyes that she didn't recall seeing there before, a lightness, an adventurous and more carefree spirit that she hadn't gotten to see much of back home. She sat down on Josie's bed, her hands at her sides, planted on the bed. She felt she _should_ talk to her friend about that machine that she had made; she knew that Josie had said that it was an accidental contraption, but how had they been lucky enough to land HERE?

She frowned at the unwelcome thought that Josie may have done this to them intentionally, and had tricked her into coming with her. She sighed as she got up to look out Josie's window. She didn't see Josie doing that kind of thing to her anyway -her eyes narrowed as she spotted Josie running towards the house, her eyes went back to the dome shaped building Josie appeared to be running from, and the cold slap of realization hit her.

She quickly rushed out of the room and stopped abruptly in the hallway, looking around, already unsure of which direction it was she was supposed to take to get back downstairs. "DAMN IT!" She cursed angrily.

…

Outside of Capsule Corp, Josie stopped suddenly, almost tackling Bulma in her haste to get inside the house.

"Oh, hi sweetie." Bulma greeted, bewildered to see her guest flushed and winded. "How'd you end up out here?" She asked her with amusement.

"I-I was looking through my window, and thought I'd walk around your beautiful backyard." Josie explained quickly, glancing over her shoulder, while her stomach flipped almost painfully.

Bulma eyed her with uncertainty. "You okay, Josie? You look a little nauseous-"

"WOMAN!" The two jumped at the distant, angry voice of Bulma's husband.

Bulma glanced at Josie, the situation more clear now. She sighed and pointed a thumb behind her back for Josie to hide. Gratefully, Josie did so immediately, ducking down just as Vegeta landed right on front of his wife, seething with anger. "She's behind you, isn't she? Move, woman." He demanded, dismissing his wife with a flicker of his wrist. Bulma eyed his hand with annoyance.

"I don't know what your talking about Vegeta, but you don't get to just dismiss me like some common housemaid!" Bulma shouted with annoyance, putting her fists at her small waist.

Teeth gritted and hands fisting at his sides, Vegeta tried to keep his anger in check. "Woman, just hand her over so I can blast her into the next dimension." Vegeta commanded.

Bulma sighed, crossing her arms. "Be reasonable, Vegeta, she's just a girl." Josie nodded vigorously, from behind Bulma, keeping her eyes tightly shut.

"Just move-"

"Whoa!" Valerie shouted as she skidded to a messy stop in front of them, nearly bumping into Vegeta -barely managing to stop herself from tumbling into him. She nervously looked at him with wide eyes, backing up immediately to stand slightly behind Bulma.

"Hey Val." Josie whispered, with a small smile, waving from where she now stood straight up behind Bulma. "What ya doing out here?" She asked, conversationally.

Valerie glared at her with a hiss, "Trying to save your ass-"

"I do not have time for this!" Vegeta shouted, angrily. "You will die!"

"Well that's not very nice." Josie mumbled, ducking back down.

"I'm sorry." Valerie quickly turned to the angry Saiyan Prince. "She won't disrupt your training anymore, I promise. She'll stay inside now, _right_ Josie?" Valerie asked, glaring daggers at her.

"Yes.." She mumbled, unhappily. Valerie nodded, turning back to Vegeta.

"Sorry." She repeated, ducking her head.

"Alright, they apologized. Now let it go, Vegeta." Bulma said with some annoyance. "Dinner will be ready not too long from now so head in soon to wash up." He gave an 'Hn' and started to walk back. Bulma turned back to the two. "Alright, that was a close call girls." Bulma reminded them, eyeing the two fidgeting girls with a forced admonishing tone that couldn't contain undercurrents of amusement. "...I realize that you two seem to have an unmatched ability to anger Vegeta, but try to keep it down to a minimum, eh ladies?" She asked, trying not to grin as she made her way back inside.

"Of course, sorry again." Valerie said with a cringe, not having noticed Bulma's amusement. As soon as she entered the house, Valerie whirled towards Josie, grabbing her roughly by the arm to take her back inside, muttering curses under her breath. Josie, however, had other plans - she rooted her feet to the ground, body half turned towards Vegeta who was still walking back to his GR, shoulders tense and angry.

"Vegeta?" She called, hesitantly, with a clear curiosity ringing in her voice. He stopped, growling with warning, as his already tensed shoulders bunched around his ears with impatience as he slowly turned around to face them. Josie was sure that if he still had a tail, the thing would be flicking at the air angrily with how ready he looked to spring at her at the slightest provocation. Swallowing her nerves down, Josie gave him a kind smile, "Do…" She bit her bottom lip, as she took a few steps closer. "Do you still think we're a threat?" She asked him, curiously.

She wasn't half as empty headed as Valerie and others liked to think, and she especially wasn't daft when it came to the topic of the royal Prince. There was no way that he had agreed to let them stay at Capsule Corp due to his generous spirit or because of their personalities, he proved in the short amount of time they had been here, how little he cared for them. That led Josie to only one conclusion: he let them stay so that he could keep a closer eye on them, and was curious if he genuinely considered them to be dangerous. It was such an exciting thought.

Vegeta snorted with derision, arms crossing lazily, as he stared her down with as much contempt as only he seemed capable of, making her shrink back before he even said a word. "Brat," He roughly named her, his tone already dismissive. "You are both pathetic weaklings with little ki to speak of, whether you come from this world or another -the fact remains, you're feeble, inferior and clearly come from a worthless people-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, we're weak!" Josie shouted with surprise, stung, keeping her hands up to stop the onslaught. "But you know, whether we're weak or not, at least, in a lot of ways - we are smarter than any of you guys can dream of-sweet turtle doves, I really shouldn't have said that, should I?" Josie asked herself, wide eyed, as she saw the Prince's fists clench tightly, and that now familiar vein start to visibly throb at his temple.

"Way to freaken go, idiot!" Valerie a few feet behind Josie, equally terrified at the murder in the man's eyes.

"Plan B, plan B.." Josie quickly mumbled, eyes wide. Valerie looked at her, confused.

"Plan B? What the hell was Plan A-" Valerie watched in bewilderment as Josie bolted past her.

"…RUN!" Josie shouted, arms waving furiously as she sprinted back towards the house, hastily followed by Valerie. Both girls made it inside the house and slammed their backs against the door.

"LOCK IT-LOCK IT!" Valerie screamed, turning her body to shakily fidget with the locks.

"I'M TRYING - YOUR FEAR IS IN MY WAY!" Josie shouted back, wrangling around Valerie to lock the door.

"WHAT?!" Valerie shouted, confused. "THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!"

"..Guys?" Bulma asked, curiously. The two girls froze, turning only their heads to look at Bulma who was carrying a tray of food, with an eyebrow arched. A minute of silence followed.

"…Hi." Josie said, awkwardly, with a nervous grin. She made her body relax into a clearly forced casual position.

"…Was Vegeta about to kill you guys,** again**?" Bulma asked, a little surprised and definitely very impressed when Josie nodded, sheepishly. Bulma laughed. "Well, he's not going to come in here all huffed up, so I'm sure you guys are safe for now." Bulma reassured with a light shrug. "Valerie you might want to go upstairs and get changed out of those clothes." She recommending, nodding to the half torn clothes Valerie was still wearing .

Valerie looked down at herself, and nodded quickly, rushing out of the room, grateful to have an excuse to go hide away. Josie didn't pay Valerie any attention as she went over to the sink to look out the window, sighing in relief as she saw a fuming Vegeta angrily stomping back towards the Gravity Chamber, little cartoon lightning bolts seeming to hang over his aura.

She laughed, slumping against the sink with a grin. She turned to Bulma who was watching her with amusement. "Need some help?" Josie offered, still in supremely good spirits, despite the frequency with which she was tempting death in the form of her a prince. Bulma smiled back at her.

"Sure, kiddo," Bulma chuckled. "Can you take this to the dinning table for me?" She asked, handing over the large tray of food, that Josie could now see were biscuits. Josie nodded.

"No problem." She happily piped, taking it and disappearing past the swinging doors.

"Seriously unmatched ability.." Bulma mumbled more to herself, repeating what she'd said earlier with a shake of her head in amusement of how accurate that statement really had been in regards to the two new girls in her home.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**:

"_TAKE ONE AND RUN!" Bulma ordered in a rush. Without arguing the two quickly grabbed one and flew through the house, pushed the front door open and took to the skies._

"_Argh!" Josie mumbled, uncomfortably as she tried to adjust herself in Trunks arms to look down at the quickly shrinking earth underneath her. "What about your mom-Oh sweet Chinchilla, this is high." She squeaked, shutting her eyes tightly and tightening her hold on his clothes._

**End Sneak Peek**.

* * *

**Note**: Those two always seem to be getting themselves in trouble, don't they? :) Anyway, please review! I understand reading all of the material and THEN reviewing but it's so appreciated when you give feedback on each chapter and let the author know what you liked (Or what needs work). Appreciated! Hope you're all having a great weekend. Ja ne! ~*~Princess Geta~*~

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	5. Chapter 5: Polite Dinner Conversation

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it, I do own a bag of chocolate chip cookies that is tempting me greatly right now though, so I'd totally appreciate anyone eating those for me. Actually, reviewers get cookies, no one else! So earn a cookie-review!

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 5**: Dinner Conversation

"Josie, do me a favor?" Bulma asked, beside Josie, both of them comfortably working on dinner now for the last hour and a half.

"Sure." Josie agreed, as she washed her hands and toweled them off.

"Get the boys to come down, they're in the common area. When you go up the stairs and make a left to get in the hallway that your bedrooms are at, go all the way straight and make right - theirs no rooms that way but just the one circular open common area. I'm sure that's where they're at right now." Bulma explained. Josie nodded briefly, a look of fierce concentration on her face as she mouthed Bulma instructions over and over as she left the room. Repeating them quietly to herself she went up the stairs and was able to successfully find the common room.

It was a short hallway, that suddenly opened up into a large lazy circle throughout the entire room. Their was a large desk set; completely with a computer, fax machine, paper shredder, phone, and office supplies upon it. On the far wall to the left was large green plant with a tall bookcase beside it, taking up a lot of the wall there. If you were stand at the entrance of the large room, at the opposite wall was a large flat TV screen against the wall, in the center of the room were two red couches facing each other with a coffee table between them littered with magazines and a silver portable radio. Goten and Trunks lounged on those two couches in the center of the room, looking at the TV enthusiastically as they held controllers and played some video game. On the wall immediately to Josie's right was nothing but a dart board with a scoring mechanism beside it. The far right wall had a large fish tank with a plethora of beautiful fish, and an empty vending machine. Josie frowned at that.

"Your vending machine is empty." She informed them, gesturing at the machine. Trunks glanced up quickly, at her, then the machine, before nodding and turning to the game.

"Yup, I thought it was a pretty dumb idea to put one there in the first place. Goten emptied it out in a matter of minutes. Mom never bothered to refill it back up." He explained. Josie smiled with a nod, that wasn't too surprising.

"Well I just wanted to tell you guys that dinner is ready-" She blinked, as Goten was no longer there, she only knew he'd gone past her when she felt her hair move with a slight breeze. Trunks sighed, as he threw his hands in the air, one still holding the controller.

"So much for that game." He said with a chuckle, as he got up and turned off the console.

"Sorry." She said, sheepishly, as she went around the couches and checked out the fishes. "Nice fish." She complimented, noticing the great details of the tank. He looked over as he put away his stuff.

"Yeah, they've been the only kind of pets that my dad has ever let us keep." He explained. "And even then he's threatened to eat those things more times than I can count." She chuckled, and he smiled in return, nodding towards the exit to indicate that they could go now. He led her down another hallway that led them downstairs quicker, and they passed through the living room, getting to the dinning area in two minutes.

"Oh good, where's Goten and Valerie?" Bulma asked, as she set the silverware out.

"Yikes I-" Josie started to explain she'd forgotten to remind Valerie about dinner, when she was interrupted by two enthusiastic voices.

"-All that on the television, really?" Goten asked, amazed, as he and Valerie entered the dinning room, completely taken up in whatever conversation they were sharing.

"Yeah - well, we don't get to see everything, but mostly everything." Valerie explained, with some pride, as she recapped for him some of the things they saw in their world.

"What took you so long Goten?" Trunks asked, as he sat down. "You left before we did." He reminded. Goten nodded, scratching the back of his head with embarrassment as he glanced down at Valerie beside him, who immediately grimaced and brought her hand to her forehead.

"Uh, well, I sort of bumped into Valerie." Goten explained, chuckling.

Yeah, literally." Valerie mumbled, as she rubbed her head.

"Glad you two could join us." Bulma said with some amusement in her voice. Goten looked up, with a smile.

"Yeah. Thanks for letting me sleep over tonight, Bulma and again, I'm sorry about that rice incident." He said. Bulma nodded.

"Don't worry about it, Goten. You guys cleaned it all up, I appreciate that. I'm going to go get- never mind." She said, blinking, and coming to a stop before the swinging door that led to kitchen. Vegeta was already coming in and taking a seat, silently putting his closed fists on the beautiful defraud table that had dark outlines of squares elegantly decorated upon it, a lovely low basket displaying a dozen beautiful yellow roses. The whole dinning room stood between the living room and kitchen; it was a pretty big space that was lit up entirely by a stream of sunlight coming in through a bay window. The table was long and rectangular in the very center of the room, the floor a neutral tile that did not distract from the décor of the room. A large rug imported from Spain stood in the center of the room as well, only a bit wider and longer than the table itself. The final beautiful piece that had already caught Josie and Valerie's eye more than once was the sparkling crystal chandelier that hung directly over the table.

"I use to have a chandelier once." Josie mumbled distractedly, as she stared up at it, her chin on her fist that rested on the table. The others looked at her and she took no notice, too busy mumbling to herself.

"Dude?" Valerie called, trying to get her friend's attention, amused, having already recognized the distracted trance her friend sometimes got into, where she would talk to herself, regardless of whether she was in a room full of people or not.

"It's drugs, I tell you." Vegeta said simply, as he looked away, already bored.

"Don't do drugs." Josie said, blinking, her attention, recaptured with that remark, as she put her hands quietly on her lap. She nodded to the chandelier. "I use to have one in a house that I lived in once." She explained to some of the people who were still staring. "It was the oddest thing, such a lovely piece hanging in the ugliest house, in such a bad neighborhood. It made no sense that it was there." She said with a shrug. "I always thought it was amusing that they decided to put that in such a tiny living room, where their was a garage not 5 feet away riddled with bullets from the last drive by." She said, with a chuckle. Bulma frowned at that as she disappeared into the kitchen to start serving dinner. A few seconds later, Bulma arrived with hands full of plates; Josie tapped Valerie's arm and indicated Bulma with her head, standing up. Valerie nodded, standing up as well and the two silently went to help Bulma bring out the food.

In a few minutes the dinning table was stacked high with an assorted variety of meals for the three Saiyan men, and three human females. Josie and Valerie silently ate and as the minutes progressed, their food intake slowed down until all they could do was stare at the men. Vegeta noticed it immediately, with some annoyance, and said around a mouth full.

"What's the matter, girl? Never seen a Saiyan eat?" He asked sarcastically. Josie nodded.

"I have, but it's different seeing it in person instead of TV." Josie explained, quietly taking a drink of her water.

"I still don't get that really, how have you seen us through television?" Bulma asked, confused. She'd been gone for half of the explanations that the girls had produced and though she was a little grossed out at the idea of constantly being watched, she was more scientifically curious than anything. Josie shrugged at the question.

"It's just.." She looked to Valerie. "It's just, like a television show, that you sit down and see whenever it's on." She went on to explain the television series' that existed, the movies, the fandom, the posters, the comics, the video games that existed. Everything.

"Wow." Bulma said honestly, leaning back on her chair for some support, all food completely forgotten. Even the Saiyans that had been eagerly chowing down had slowed down throughout their explanations. "So you've seen all of that?" Bulma asked, curiously.

"A lot, not all of it though, theirs a ton of possible future's for the series that we sometimes glance at." She said with another shrug. "Most of it's on the internet now, so whenever we want to find out anything - we usually go there, they have everything from official stuff to fan-made videos, pictures, fan-fiction, you name it. Going through some of it can be pretty fun sometimes, a lot of it is pretty clever and funny, some of the stuff though.." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Is just bad." Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?" He asked, simply. Josie glanced up at him, he sure didn't seem interested in her answer but she wasn't letting herself get comfortable because of that. She had to tread carefully here.

"You don't want to know." She said with a shrug, trying to make it seem as unimportant as possible.

"But I do." He insisted. She pursed her lips, unhappily, staring at the table. She raised her shoulders weakly.

"I don't know - just stuff, you know? stupid stuff that people with no lives make, they just have really wild imaginations and something draw and write about things that are just completely out there-"

"Stop rambling you idiotic girl, and get to it!" Vegeta demanded, annoyed now.

"Perverted stuff!" She finally shouted. After the outburst she immediately leaned back in her chair and bit her thumbnail from her right hand, nervously.

"Explain." He demanded, warningly. Valerie leaned an elbow on the table and put her chin there, turning to look at Josie with amusement at seeing her friend dig such a deep hole that she now was struggling to get out of. Josie saw Valerie's smirk through the corner of her eye and her eyes narrowed. She'd get her.

"Yaoi." She said simply to Vegeta.

"Yaoi?" He repeated, questioningly.

"…Homoerotic stuff. Gay material." She clarified, biting her nail more firmly now, as her heart beat thumped loudly in her chest at the rising anger in the man who sat across from her. Who told him to sit there anyway? Everyone knew how little he liked her and how many times she'd fired up his engines already today.

"Gay?! How so?" he demanded, anger and embarrassment starting to rise on his face. How dare she be so disrespectful?

"Yeah. Give examples." Valerie suggested, happily.

"…" Josie thought out her options; running clearly wasn't one of them, he'd toast her in a matter of seconds. She couldn't get to Bulma in time to hide behind her back, Goten was near enough but she was sure that Vegeta wouldn't have too many qualms about letting Goku's spawn get caught in the crossfire. "If I do that." She finally started. "Will I die?"

"Most likely." He said, without pulling punches. She gulped audibly, looking around for some assistance, Bulma might have helped had she not been so darn curious as to the girl's answer herself. The other boys were pretty curious themselves, what kind of world did this girl come from that people fantasized about them like this? It was disturbing and flattering all that the same time.

"Fine." Josie muttered angrily, turning to glare at Valerie. "But If I die, your coming with me." She warned. Valerie huffed.

"No thanks. I already came to your rescue once today, that's more than enough for one day, thanks." she said, casually taking a sip of her drink, and bite of her meal, just to emphasize her cavalier demeanor. Josie's glare hardened.

"That so?" She asked, her demeanor changing completely from anger and annoyance to calm and confident in a matter of a nano second, Valerie blinked at the obvious change, and put her fork down, looking over at her friend with distrust.

"…Yeah." She nervously said, her mind working furiously to try and come up with whatever Josie would pull on her now - to get her cooperation.

"That's cool." Josie said with an easy shrug, as she turned back to her food, playing with her food. She chuckled. "Remember that time when you told me about the room of Spirit and Time and you and one of the Son's-" Valerie coughed loudly, interrupting Josie, who only smiled at her. "You okay?" She asked, innocently. Valerie took a quick drink of her water and turned to Vegeta, desperately.

"For example, theirs drawn pictures of Goten and Trunks as a couple, doing homoerotic things." She sputtered quickly. All at once Trunks now choked on his food, Goten spit his drink, Vegeta's eyes widened to saucers, and Bulma could not contain an "Ew!" at the image.

"WHAT?!" Goten and Trunks demanded, simultaneously, standing up with righteous indignation. After a minute Vegeta was finally able to store away the look of disgust at the thought, and shook his head, directing his glare at Josie.

"What else?" He demanded.

She looked at him with confusion. "What else..?" She repeated, helplessly. He nodded.

"Yes. You would not have become so scared at the prospect of telling me, had it only concerned the two brats. What else." He insisted.

"Help?" Josie asked Valerie, nervously. Valerie groaned.

"Piccolo and Gohan." She said with a shake of her head, in an 'I don't know anymore' way. The reaction was similar to the one they had before.

"EW!" Bulma paled, at the thought of her Gohan and the Namekian.

"And?" Vegeta insisted.

"What do you mean 'And'? that's it!" Josie lied, frowning.

"Yeah right." Trunks said with annoyance. "Is their any of my dad?" He asked, mad at the girls for even the impossible suggestion of him and his best friend. He knew that this was what his father truly wanted to know, and at the moment he didn't care if the girls got into some trouble over this. He was just outraged.

"No!" Josie defended immediately. It was obvious to everyone that she was lying at this point; Particularly Vegeta who was already turning red from the overwhelming things he was feeling at the moment: anger, disgust, and indignation at what a mockery these two creature's world, made of them, of **him**.

"With who?" He insisted. Josie's resolve weakened under the cold glare. She looked down at her lap.

"Goku." She mumbled. She heard Bulma's expected 'ew' and the groans of disgust from the two teenage males, but what made her head snapped up was when she heard a chair crash and hit a wall, Vegeta was now standing up, angry and shining wonderfully in all his Super Saiyan glory. Josie's eyes widened in awe.

"Oh my gosh. That is the coolest and cutest thing I have ever seen.." She mumbled.

"CUTE?!" Vegeta shouted, veins visible on his throat. "OH I'll show you cute, you insolent girl! I refuse to let you breathe another moment longer!" He shouted.

"BOYS!" Bulma snapped, standing up, her full attention on the two teenage boys who nervously looked at the full Saiyan. They turned to Bulma when they heard her commanding tone. "TAKE ONE AND RUN!" She ordered in a rush. Without arguing, the two quickly grabbed one and flew through the house, pushed the front door open and took to the skies.

"Argh!" Josie mumbled, uncomfortably as she tried to adjust herself in Trunks arms to look down at the quickly shrinking earth underneath her. "What about your mom-Oh sweet Lord, this is high." She squeaked, shutting her eyes tightly and tightening her hold on his clothes. Trunks would have found it endearing had he not been so concentrated on his father's ki and making sure that it wasn't in pursuit.

"She'll be fine, she's the best one to calm him down." He assured. "He'd never lay a hand on her." Josie nodded, fully aware of that.

"Is he behind us?!" Goten asked, nearing them, as he frequently glanced back.

"No." Trunks assured.

"Phew." Goten sighed happily, a grin back on his face, as they started to slow down after a few minutes.

"Where are we going?" Valerie asked, hidden in Goten's chest, cringing at the loud sound of them cutting through the air quickly. Trunks looked questioningly at Goten, wondering the same thing himself. Goten read the look and shrugged.

"We can go to my place, I know my parents were going grocery shopping and that usually takes a while." Goten offered. Trunks thought about it and shook his head.

"I don't think so. Your mom has never really been patient enough to last too long when shopping with Goku - and I'm not in the mood to explain the odd happenings of this day to anyone." He muttered, as he lowered down slowly and looked around, as they continued forward, powering down. Goten flew lower as well, spotting Trunks new destination and following him as he descended further down. Neither girls peaked, until all movement stopped. Trunks tried to put Josie down but she stubbornly held on to him in any way possible.

"Jo-Josie." He called, chuckling as he had to again remove her hand, that had immediately reattached itself to his shirt - the moment he released her hand. "It's safe now, we're on ground." He assured. She stopped, and looked around. Nodding satisfied, she slowly got down and eyed their surroundings. She turned to Trunks with a curious expression.

"A park?" She asked. He shrugged, as he looked around, as well.

"A midpoint between Goten's place and mine." He explained, as he walked out of the sand boxed area with a large jungle gym, complete with slides, monkey bars and a swing set. He went and sat down at a bench nearby, like a mature grown up would, and noticing that, Josie huffed and hopped up and grabbed onto the monkey bars, used those and when at the end, jumped off, sat in a swing that was only a few feet away and lightly swayed back and forth. Trunks raised an eyebrow at her childish antics and she only smiled in response, and swung even more. Valerie took the other swing and simply sat, swaying lightly, Goten immediately reached up for the monkey bars and effortlessly pulled himself up and over the monkey bars in a sitting position. Trunks rolled his eyes with a smile and looked around, when he saw they were completely alone he floated up to sit directly in between the two swing sets, on the bar holding them up. Josie glanced up and nodded in approval, as she continued to swing higher and higher.

"So." Goten started, conversationally, as he swung his feet back and forth and looked at the sunset about to take place. "Where did our dad's find you guys?"

"We fell out of the sky." Valerie said, with a chuckle, knowing how odd that must sound.

"Yup." Josie agreed, with a small nod as she narrowed her eyes, focused on the task at hand. She was going to jump, and she was going to jump far. She came back one more time, full speed, halting in the air as she was about to fly forward at top speed. And as the swing stalled at it's highest point, Trunks reached behind him and plucked her off the seat, anticlimactically, and plopped her down beside him. Josie blinked, momentarily stunned, as she looked around. Upon seeing the height, she immediately grabbed on to the bar she was sitting on with both hands, tightly, as she glared up at Trunks sitting beside her, giving her a grin. She rolled her eyes with a smile.

"So." She started, as she noticed that Goten took her spot in the swing set. "Where the heck is Bra?" She asked.

"She's on a vacation with Videl, Pan, and Marron." Josie nodded. The teens remained there for the next two hours, walking around the city and getting some hotdogs to eat from a street side vendor, scaring the poor man to death when the boys requested the entire supply.

"That was pretty darn good." Goten sighed happily, rubbing his belly with clear satisfaction as the group unconsciously walked back in the direction of Capsule Corp. Valerie nodded, amused.

"It was." She agreed. "So guys, when do you have the world martial arts tournament again?" She asked. Goten and Trunks shared a look and the two then started to try to count the amount of years that'd passed by and how many they had left.

"These things kind of fly by.." Trunks muttered. "Um. I think 2 years, right Goten?" Goten thought about it for a moment, and nodded.

"I think so." He said with a shrug.

"Oh that sucks!" Valerie moaned, unhappily, pouting as she kicked at an invisible pebble in her way.

"Why?" Goten asked, amused.

"We won't be here by then." She mumbled. Josie tensed beside her, unhappily.

"Aren't you even the least bit curious about seeing a-" Valerie snapped her head around in Josie's direction, disbelief and righteous anger in her body language as she froze in place staring at her friend.

"Are you kidding me right now? You can't possibly be this uncaring." She shouted, angrily. Josie's eyes narrowed, as she came to a stop too a few feet ahead, turning to glare. The boys slowing down and stopping a few feet away, anxiously looking between the two clearly angry girls.

"What's the damn problem now? Are you forgetting the wish?" Josie asked, crossing her arms.

"No! I'm not! But that doesn't mean I want to prance around here and pretend that our staying here any longer than we have too would erase any hurting our family is going to go through meanwhile!"

"They won't remember it anyway!" Josie dismissed the argument away. Valerie made a shout of frustration.

"UGH! What is with you?! S*** man! Those quizzes were all right, you are just like Vegeta!"

Josie's eye twitched in annoyance. "Yeah, well, yours were right too. You're just like Goku. You care far too much about people that don't appreciate us."

"Why does that even matter?!"

"Whoa, whoa, let's calm things down ladies." Josie huffed and turned away, walking back in the direction of CC. Valerie rolled her eyes and followed a few steps behind them. Goten slowed down to remain with her while they all walked in relative silence. Goten remained thoughtfully quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the night. They started to slow down as they entered the Capsule Corp grounds, each teenager quietly wondering the same thing: was Vegeta calm now? Was it even safe to go inside yet?

Trunks signaled the others to be quiet as he quietly opened the front door and carefully went inside. Seeing that all the lights were off, he stood straight and focused on his father and mother's energy. They both seemed to be upstairs in their room, and both of them seemed to be asleep. He sighed audibly, as he turned on the lights in the living room and turned back to the others with a grin.

"I don't think we have to worry." He finally said. "They're asleep."

"Phew." Josie said with a smile. Trunks nodded at the sentiment.

"So do everything you need to do, try not to make too much noise, and get to your rooms, men!" Trunks ordered, standing to attention in his spot, with a commanding voice. Josie noticed the authoritative voice, and arched an eyebrow in amusement. She raised a lazy hand from where her hands were crossed.

"A problem, oh great leader." Josie said with a smile.

"What would that be, sergeant?" Trunks asked with a smile.

"We don't know how to get to our rooms, Captain!"

"That is not a problem, Sergeant, my quarters are across from yours - diagonally anyway, follow me, soldier!" Trunks ordered, turning around abruptly and marching up the stairs in a military cadence with Josie trying hard to imitate him.

"Oh brother." Valerie mumbled, chuckling, as she and Goten watched them go upstairs.

"Could those two be any weirder?" Goten asked, grinning.

"I don't know about Trunks, but I know Josie can." Valerie replied, making him chuckle.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, Trunks probably can too. I'm going to get a glass of water before going upstairs, you want a glass?" Goten offered as he started towards the door that led to the kitchen.

"Sure." She said following after him. Going up the stairs after that, the two found Josie and Trunks in front of her door standing at attention.

"I'll see you in 15 hundred hours, sergeant! I want you up and ready for the morning ritual, am I clear, soldier?" Trunks asked.

"Sir, yes-wait, isn't 15 hundred hours 3 o clock?" Josie asked, amused. Trunks grinned.

"I was hoping you wouldn't catch that."

"Apologies." Josie said grinning back.

"Very well, dismissed."

"Thank you, sir!" Josie and Trunks saluted each other and each went into their own rooms.

"Weirdos!" Valerie insisted, as she took a zip of her drink.

"I heard that!" Josie shouted through the other side of her door, Valerie pulled her cup away from her mouth for a second.

"Yeah well, hear this!" She half mumbled, hitting Josie's door with the back of her shoe, distractedly, taking a large gulp of her drink as she made her way into her room. "Goodnight Goten!" She called after herself, hearing Goten chuckle when she close the door and mumble a quick goodnight.

…

Josie's smile wiped away as soon as she closed her door, and locked it behind her. She stood there for a minute, feeling quiet and thoughtful. She walked to her bathroom and splashing some water on her face, looking up at her own reflection. _I don't think I'll ever get use to seeing myself this way. _She thought absently, she shook her head briefly, grabbing a towel on the side and roughly wiping her face. _Who cares about that now? I have to figure out a way to get us back home... What if I did try to make another machine? I could do it again, couldn't I? _She continued to stare at herself, towel clutched to her mouth, thoughts far away as she questioned the possibility of creating another machine.

"It just wouldn't work!" She yelled angrily at herself. "I have no picture, no memory of what most of those parts were even called- UGH!" She growled, throwing her towel to the side, as she left the bathroom in disgust and paced the length of her room. _And worse yet, _she thought miserably, _What if the Dragon can't even grant us the wish? _She groaned at the frustrating thought that kept creeping back into her mind that she had not wanted to distress Valerie with. _I should have never dragged her into this..._

She sighed as she let herself drop on her desk chair, dropping her left elbow onto the desk top and planted her cheek on her fist. _And it doesn't help matters any that such a big part of me doesn't even want to go back. I mean, look at this world. _She thought, as she tilted her head more into her fist to the left, in order to be able to get a better view of the still open window to her right overlooking the beautiful backyard and the night sky. _It's so beautiful._ She sighed folding her arms over the desk and resting her cheek upon them. _Val's right, I am selfish jerk. _She yawned and felt her eyelids get heavier until she could barely open them anymore, thoughts drifting slowly away from her, the last thing she remembered thinking, she had actually mumbled out loud. "I…I hope this wasn't…a dream."

…

In Valerie's room, Valerie laid in bed not having bothered to change or even pull up any covers, she simply laid there with her hands behind her back, her eyes trained on the ceiling. _I shouldn't have been so rough on her. _She thought, sadly. _This isn't her fault, but damn! This situation is so…complicated. But would I change having done this to have stayed at home? Probably not. Does this make me selfish too? _She sighed, bring her arms back and turning to turn her back on the rest of the room. _I just hope I don't wake up tomorrow to find that this was all a dream…that would be…too sad. _She never even realized when her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.

…

Trunks glanced up when the door to his bedroom opened. He wasn't surprised to see Goten walk through, while he, himself, sat on his desk chair removing his shoes.

"What's up, Goten?" Trunks asked, easily.

"Nothing, just…" He shrugged, unable to form the right words to voice all the thoughts that were racing through his mind as he sat down on Trunks bed. Trunks stopped, as he put his shoe to the side, studying his best friend's confused state and nodded understandingly.

"I know what you mean." He mumbled with a sigh. "I just don't know what to make of them either." Goten nodded quietly, thankful that his best friend understood. "I mean." Trunks shook his head as he started to unlace his other boot. "Are they telling the truth? My father doesn't seem to think so. I can't even say that I blame him that much, a different earth? Different human beings? We are cartoons? We are entertainment on television to their people-it just doesn't make any sense Goten!" He shouted, standing up, frustrated.

"I know." Goten said quietly. "So what are you saying? You don't believe them?" He asked, looking up. Trunks tossed his new jacket off to the side and went to the window to look outside, sighing, with a light chuckle.

"You know, as weird as it may sound…I completely believe them." He said. "I somehow trust that they're actually telling the truth on everything, is that weird?" He asked, turning back to look at his best friend who was smiling, and softly shaking his head.

"No, it's not. I do too." He admitted, relieved that he wasn't the only one who believed them. "…It's weird though right?" He finally asked as Trunks brushed his teeth in his bathroom for 3 minutes before he finally decided to ask something. Trunks peeked his head out of the bathroom door with his mouth full of tooth paste.

"Hmr?" Trunks asked, confused.

"It's weird, isn't it? That we're trusting two complete strangers?" Trunks stopped cleaning his teeth for a moment as he pondered the question, and quietly retreated back into the bathroom to spit and rinse.

"Yeah, it is." He agreed. "Do you think it might have anything to do with the fact that they're females?" Trunks asked, smiling. Goten glanced over.

"What seems to make them harmless to us?" Goten added, with a smile of his own. Trunks nodded. "Yeah, it might." Goten admitted.

"Well… you know what?" Trunks asked, as he and Goten silently traded places, Trunks throwing himself on the bed and Goten going to sit at Trunks desk chair, straddling the chair in the opposite direction so that he could rest his forearms on the back of the chair.

"What?" Goten asked, dropping his chin on his arms.

"If that's the plan - it's working like a charm for me." Trunks said grinning as he placed his hands behind his head. Goten chuckled.

"Yup, same here." The two continued to talk for the next twenty minutes about their theories of what the two girls world was possibly like and how they even arrived, before the two starting yawning far too much for the other to ignore.

"I guess I should head to my room, I'm tired." Goten said with a chuckle. Trunks nodded, yawning again himself.

"Yeah, I guess I should go to sleep too." Goten nodded, standing up and making his way towards the door before stopping when he heard Trunks chuckle, he stopped, and turned back towards his friend curiously.

"What's up?" Goten asked.

Trunks shook his head lightly, disbelief and amusement dancing in his eyes. "I just.." He chuckled, unable to help himself. "I've just never seen someone be so close to dying by my father's hands so many times in a day without _actually_ dying." Goten laughed.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

"_Do as I say and do not let them notice you, keep your ki down, high enough to be unnoticed, but low enough to hear what they are saying." He commanded, not bothering to turn around, opening the back door to go outside and continue his training._

**End Sneak Peek.**

* * *

**Note: **Apart from please review, all I have to say is HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Be safe everybody :) Ja ne! ~*~Princess Geta~*~


	6. Chapter 6: The Next Day

**Disclaimer**: I'm still not owning it, and I'm still having some cookies..

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 6: **The Next Day (Jinx).

Josie groaned as light flooded her bedroom from the open window. She turned away from it with a groan. _Ugh, if it's still this bright in my room, I can't imagine what it must be like with the sun directly in Val - Oh damn it, what am I talking about? It was a dream. _She sighed. _Such an amazing, fantastic, wonderful dream though._ She smiled, happily as she tried to snuggle into her pillow only to find that she was snuggling into a hard surface. She frowned, mid-yawn, pulling away from the offensive wood, groaning when she felt the crick in her neck.

"Ow! Friggin ow! Ooh why did I sleep on here when there's a perfectly good-" _wait a minute…_ Her eyes widened as she looked at the desk in front of her, to the bed, to the entire room around her. _This t-this is my room! My other room! _A scream erupted out of her mouth before she had a chance to muffle it. She scrambled onto her feet and onto her chair, jumping up and down in excitement, falling back onto the floor, not having realized that her legs would be so wobbly from sleeping incorrectly. She groaned rubbing her backside, and her neck at the same time, laughing, with tears in her eyes. _I can't believe I'm still here.. _She thought in scrambled up onto her feet and quickly left the room, rushing into Valerie's without bothering to knock. She found Valerie asleep above the covers, and jumped up onto the bed on her knees hopping up and down in excitement. Valerie groaned, still half sleep.

"Val! Valerie! Wake up, we're still here! This wasn't a dream! How cool is that?" Josie shouted, as she continued her merciless bouncing.

"Dad, leave me alone, just…give me five more minutes." Valerie mumbled, turning away from Josie, trying to ignore whatever was causing her to bounce up and down.

"Val..?" Josie asked with confusion, and amusement. "VAL!" She called. Valerie yelped, falling off the bed and onto the floor, immediately sitting up, wide eyed and looking around. Her eyes landed on Josie, and narrowed in annoyance.

"Damn it dude! You didn't have to push me off the bed! …and what are you doing in my house anyway? And don't you know how to…k-knock.." Her mouth dropped open, and Josie grinned at her finally catching up.

"I know." Josie said grinning, not answering whatever it was that Valerie had said out loud, but instead, answering to the shock that was clearly written all over Valerie's face. "So come-on, get up." Josie said, standing up from the bed and rubbing the back of her still sore neck. "I'm going to go hop in the shower, but after I do, I'm coming in to get ya."

"Why?" Valerie asked with a sigh, as she stood up and started to make her bed. "What are we doing?" She asked.

"We are going to go see this world and all of the Z fighters." Josie explained happily. Valerie paused, and nodded, unable to deny the fact that she wanted to do the exact same thing.

"Alright. I'll get ready." Josie nodded happily.

"Good. 30 minutes."

…

Goten groaned, turning away from whatever it was that was shaking him. The world couldn't possibly be ending again, could it? Sad how he just didn't care at the moment, he just wanted to, "Sleep! Let me sleep!" He mumbled angrily.

"Goten! Wake up!" Trunks scolded, only receiving unintelligible mumbles. "Goten! Um…look! Valese came to visit you!" He received no response. "Uh Goten, theirs an evil guy attacking earth!" Still, no response. "Damn it Goten- ….of course! What an idiot!" Trunks slapped his forehead with his open palm, grinning like a Cheshire cat as he got closer to his best friend's ear. "GOTEN! BREAKFAST IS READY!" Goten sprang up so fast that his head collided with Trunks, making him howl and fall back, holding his head in pain. "OW! Damn it Goten! What the heck is your head made out of? The hardest steel in the galaxy?"

"Geez Trunks! What'd you have to go and do that for?" Goten asked, holding his head, continuing to look around for the food that he'd been promised. "And where the heck is the food?" Trunks sighed with a groan as he picked himself up, and sat at the edge of the bed. Goten studied him carefully and sighed right alongside him. "Their is no food, is there, Trunks?" He asked sadly.

"Sorry about that." Trunks said sheepishly. Goten pouted and prepared to go back to sleep. "So…I guess you didn't hear the screaming huh?" Trunks asked innocently knowing that it would immediately pike the interest of the demi-Saiyan. And it did. Goten looked over curiously.

"..What screaming?" Trunks shrugged looking at the wall in the direction of the room he'd heard the commotion from.

"One of the girls was screaming - I'm not sure which one though."

"Really?" Goten looking around and keeping his ears open for any noise. "I don't hear anything now." Trunks nodded.

"Yeah, they quieted down a few minutes ago." Trunks insisted, as he got back up.

"So did you know want to go check it out or something?" Goten asked, as he took the blankets off and stood up to stretch out his arms.

Trunks shrugged, "It might be important or something, don't you think?" Goten smiled in response.

"Well, when it involves those two, I really don't think so. Remember Bulma telling us how they scream whenever they meet one of us."

Trunks chuckle, "That's true."

...

Downstairs in the kitchen Bulma was helping some machines prepare breakfast when the screaming started. She looked up at the ceiling, stopping what she was doing.

"Hm. I think that was Josie." Bulma said aloud. Vegeta stood a few feet away from her drinking a can of beer. He put the can on the counter and looked up at the ceiling as well.

"Hmph. I wouldn't be too concerned. The brat yells over anything. I wouldn't be surprised if it was because she saw a bird in a tree." He said dismissively, as he took another chug. Bulma sighed as she resumed mixing ingredients in a bowl.

"Vegeta, that's not nice. Remember what we talked about last night?"

"Yeah, yeah." He mumbled, as he looked away. "I still think she's on drugs and made up the whole story, and now that the she's up and she found herself in a place she doesn't recognize she started screaming." Vegeta reasoned.

"Oh quiet Vegeta. She doesn't do drugs…I don't think." She finished up, with a light frown. She shook her head. "Breakfast is almost ready, so don't wander off too far, okay?"

"Hn." Vegeta mumbled as he left through the backdoor that led to the backyard, empty beer can still in hand, thoughts drifting to the strangers upstairs who'd made a fool out of him the prior night as he made his way to the Gravity room to train. "Stupid brats." He growled through clenched teeth. "Think they can disrespect me, they are going to find out what happens to those who dare cross me…" He muttered, crushing the beer can in his hand - continuing to mumble curses and threats to the two as he entered and locked the Gravity room behind him.

...

Upstairs, unaware that anyone was talking about them, Josie came out of her bathroom - towel drying her hair, happily humming to herself. _Alright, let's see, who I do I want to meet first? Not knowing how to fly doesn't help me much... but with capsules who knows what's possible. _She thought with a smile, she threw the towel on her couch and changed into the clothes that Bulma had given her in a box. She put on some form fitting light blue jeans, and a white t-shirt, pulling her hair up into a high ponytail, putting her loop earrings back on. She took out a piece of paper and pen from her desk drawer, and sat down to write down a list of all the dbz character she could think of that she wanted to meet: _Let's see, I've got Bulma, Trunks, Goten, Goku, and Vegeta. I still need Bra, Pan, Videl, Chichi, Gohan, Piccolo, Mirai Trunks, Tien, Chiaotzu, Krillin, 18, Marron, Dende, Popo, Buu, Yamcha, Puar, Uub I guess too! Could I even meet certain people? Certain dead people? Ooh I'd love to meet Bardock, and King Vegeta, and whoever the heck Vegeta's mom may be! _She sighed once she recounted up the names she'd written down. _Damn, that is a lot of people to track down._ She thought with some amusement and a little trepidation. She wasn't sure if she could pull this off. She stood up, folding the list neatly and placing it in the pocket of her jeans. It didn't matter whether she could or not, she was determined to at least try. To try before they had to start looking for the dragon balls to go back.

She groaned at the thought of going back home, but shook her head refusing to focus too much on that now. She had had a lot of terrible thoughts, even in her dreams, constant dreams of different ways to try to avoid going back to her world. In some she'd make a last minute wish to only have Valerie go back, in another she'd hid, went off on her own and was not found by the others. In some scenarios the dragon was unable to grant their wish and she was secretly happy. In reality though, she wanted none of that, she knew how much that would hurt her friend and she just couldn't make her go back and deal with whatever may come on her own. With a thoughtful frown on her face she looked up at the clock in her room, surprised to see that it was only nine in the morning; She wasn't usually an early to rise, kind of girl. _Guess a lot of things are different for me here huh?_ She finally smiled and allowed herself to relax as she left the room and politely knocked on Valerie's door. Valerie opened the door angrily.

"What are you trying to do? Break my door down?" Josie grinned.

_Politely_ knocked may have been, somewhat, inaccurate.

Valerie rolled her eyes, going back into the room and leaving the door open, she raised her foot upon the bed and folded her pants upwards, Bulma had given her a few pairs of pants as well, and tops but she had not had any petite ones so they dragged a little at the bottom.

"So you ready?" Josie asked, smile still firmly in place as she crossed her arms, leaning her shoulder onto the doorway. Valerie glanced at her, nodding in affirmation seeing the Josie mimic the motion happily, satisfaction written across her face. "Good. So what do you think, should we try to sneak out of here or tell them that we're leaving?"

"Come-on, theirs no way that we'd be able to sneak out without anyone noticing. Not to mention I'm sure they're all up and about by now, especially with you screaming like a banshee about thirty minutes ago apparently. Nobody could have slept through that."

"You did." Josie pointed out. Valerie sweat-dropped.

"…Shut up."

"Let's go, Son." Josie said with a smirk, as she turned around and led the way down the stairs. She slowed down when they got on the first level and looked around cautiously for any sign of any of the members. "Come-on.." Josie whispered to Valerie as the tried to sneak to the front door, both stopping cold when they heard someone clear their throat. They slowly turned to see Vegeta with his arms crossed, leaning on the wall that stood between them and the dinning room.

"…He was not there five seconds ago." Josie whispered to Valerie, who nodded, nervously, in agreement.

"And just where do you two think you are going?" He asked. The two shared a nervous look.

"I…uh, out for a walk." Valerie stuttered nervously, she couldn't help it, she had no idea how Josie had been such a huge fan of such an intimidating and mean guy. He easily mistook her nerves for lies and scowled.

"Really?" He asked disbelieving. "Well, you can take your 'walk' later, breakfast is ready. Or do you have to go do something else?" He asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing at all." Josie assured. He nodded.

"Good. Follow me." He led them to the dinning table where Bulma was finishing setting up. She glanced up when they all came in and gave them a warm smile.

"Good morning girls, you two woke up quite early, didn't you?" She asked.

"We did." Valerie said sheepishly, as they all took a seat.

"Good morning everybody." Goten said as he entered the dinning room, followed by Trunks. "Sorry we took so long guys, the shower in my room didn't have any hot water so I was waiting for Trunks to finish off his shower, and we all know how long he takes." Goten said laughing as Trunks punched his arm. "And don't even get me started on how long it took him to do his hair-I'm kidding!" He shouted, raising up both hands in a giving up gesture when Trunks prepared to hit him again. Goten chuckled happily as he rubbed at his arm.

"Now boys, settle down and sit down to-" A phone attached to the far wall of the dinning room rang. Bulma frowned, getting up to go answer it, she knew it wasn't work related. They knew better than to bother her or any of her family members during any meal time. She picked up the phone. "Hello?" She answered. The others watched curiously as she groaned and argued with whoever was on the other side of the phone. "They couldn't- did they really? Ugh! Those girls. Alright. No, that's fine, it wasn't your fault. I'll get that all straightened out. See you guys a little later then. Buh-bye." Bulma sighed as she went back to the table and sat, seeing that the others were watching her curiously. "That was Videl. She said that she and the girls are coming back today, seems like Pan and Bra got into a little bit of trouble and they were kicked out. They should be here in the evening." Trunks chuckled.

"Great, I wonder what Bra did now."

"Watch your mouth, boy." Vegeta warned, not seeing Trunks who turned his head to the side and rolled his eyes. They all quieted down and began to eat, Josie and Valerie freezing up again when they saw the Saiyans eating again. After a few moments of staring they managed to slowly start to pick from their plates and join in on the meal. The girls finished eating after a while, and sat quietly - watching the others.

"…You girls sure you don't want anymore?" Bulma asked as she started to get up to clear the plates, studying how much they had leftover.

"Yeah, were fine. I'm sorry we left so much, we just-" Josie glanced at Valerie. "We just can't eat another bite." Bulma laughed.

"Don't worry about that, you only eat what you can. Besides, I think this is helpful I'm getting a bit better at measuring how much you guys eat. It's interesting, I think your kind of humans eat a little less than ours do." Josie nodded in agreement with the observation.

"I think I agree. I noticed that back home when we'd watch you guys." Bulma looked over at Vegeta communicating with her eyes smugly, that the girls weren't just two normal human girls who were on drugs and made up some random story, they were still sticking to it. He just huffed and turned the other way, continuing to eat, some stray leftovers.

"Well guys, if you don't mind, me and Val would like to take that walk now. Thanks a lot for the food, Bulma, it was really great." Josie said, seeing Valerie nod from the corner of her eye. The two got up and help Bulma put away the dishes before leaving the premises.

"They gone already?" Bulma asked as she re-entered the dinning room where the boys were finishing up.

"Yup, just left." Trunks said as he slurped up some noodles.

"Trunks, Goten." Vegeta called, the two boys stopped eating and looked at Vegeta hesitantly.

"Yes, dad?"

"Follow them." He ordered simply, as he got up and left the room.

"But dad!" Trunks shouted, scrambling up and following him into the kitchen.

"Do as I say and do not let them notice you, keep your ki down, high enough to be unnoticed, but low enough to hear what they are saying." He commanded, not bothering to turn around, opening the back door to go outside and continue his training.

"Vegeta." Bulma called angrily as she followed after them. Vegeta turned to her.

"Woman, do not argue with me. Only fools would display as much carelessness as we have simply due to their appearance - we have to take precautions." He snapped. Bulma glared at him but he was thankful that he received no further argument. Vegeta nodded and left, the door shutting close behind him. Trunks explained the situation to Goten and the two followed after the girls, they didn't like what they were doing but they were a bit curious themselves to see what they would do.

"I feel terrible about this, Trunks." Goten said with a sigh, as they flew above the girls who were doing nothing but walking down the street and talking amongst themselves about money. Trunks sighed, turning to fly on his back with his hands resting behind his head.

"Me too, and this is just boring." He said sighing. "I just don't think that they're going to do anything bad."

"So should we leave?" Goten asked. Trunks looked over his shoulder at the girls, thoughtfully.

"I kind of want to get to know them a little more." He admitted, turning back around to watch the two comical girls arguing wildly. "Come-on!" He said enthusiastically, as he barreled down straight to where the girls were at, followed awkwardly by Goten.

"Wait Trunks shouldn't we think of what to-ahh!" Goten stopped with some trouble right above the girls, arms and legs waving wildly. "Ahh! …uh.. Hi girls." He said, embarrassed, as he hovered right above them. Josie and Valerie blinked up at the duo. Finally, Josie remembered where they were and looked around quickly to make sure that no one was around to see the display. She frowned grabbing the boys each by and ankle and tugging down. She wasn't able to get them to budge much, but the two got the hint and quickly came fully to the ground.

"What are you guys doing here?" Valerie asked, surprised.

"Nothing." Trunks said easily. "We were just bored and came to see what you guys were doing." Trunks lied. Josie crossed her arms, and arched a brow in disbelief.

"Yeah right. Vegeta sent you to spy on us, didn't he?" She asked. Valerie looked at her with surprise, but thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement. It made sense.

"Well…." Goten trailed off, scratching the back of his head nervously. Josie smiled.

"Hey don't worry about it, it's fine, it would be weird if he didn't send you guys." She said honestly with a shrug, it was just Vegeta's way, he was suspicious of everything and everyone. In fact, she was a little flattered that he still thought of them as a threat - as weird as that sounded.

"Thanks for being so understanding. Where were you guys going, anyway?" Goten asked curiously. Josie and Valerie shared a blank look.

"Honestly? We don't even know." Valerie admitted, embarrassed.

"Yeah, we just wanted to look around and explore. I mean, this world." Josie signaled all around them. "Is pretty incredible." Trunks and Goten looked around with a smile.

"Yeah." Trunks agreed. "It is. You'd never think by the looks of it that all those terrible things happened here." The others nodded in agreement.

"So, since we've pathetically admitted that we have no idea where we are going, you guys know any cool place to check out?" Valerie asked. Trunks and Goten looked at each other with big grins lighting on their faces.

"Arcade!" They shouted excitedly. Trunks eyes widened a fraction before he yelled.

"JINX!" One second before Goten shouted the very same thing.

"Haha!" Trunks laughed victoriously, throwing up a peace sign happily. "No one say his name, got it?" Trunks asked of the two dumb struck girls. He laughed happily as he took out a capsule, still grinning when he pressed the button and threw it to the ground a few feet away. Their was a small noise, a puff of smoke, and when it cleared, a car stood in front of them.

"That is just never going to get old." Josie declared, smiling happily, as they all got into the car. "Hey Trunks? Quick question." Josie started as she buckled herself in. "How old do you have to be here to drive?" She asked curiously.

"Eighteen." He answered, glancing over his shoulder. "Why?"

"Just wondering." She answered. "How old are you anyway?" She asked.

"Eighteen, Goten's seventeen. How about you two?"

"Sixteen." They both answered, simultaneously.

"JINX!" Trunks shouted happily, once more. Valerie and Josie looked at each other incredulously. "Gotcha." He said grinning. "This is going to be one quiet trip to the arcade." He said sighing happily, as he leaned back on his seat - putting his hands behind his head and replying to the angry glares in his direction with a simple smile.

…

"Okay, here we are!" Trunks called happily, as he parked his car across the street from the Arcade.

"…" Utter silence. He looked around himself, unable to hide his big grin.

"What, no one has anything to say?" Trunks asked sarcastically. Receiving no response, he chuckled. "Good. Follow me everybody." They all did so, going across the street and into the Arcade that was thankfully, not very busy this early in the day. Trunks turned around towards them at the front register and rolled his eyes. "This is kind of boring without none of you bugging me. I'll allow the loudest and craziest person to speak, deal? Okay, let's see." He made a big show of contemplating who to pick. He grinned. "Of course, Josie."

"Gee. Thanks." Josie said dryly, flipping him off as she went past him to get some coins for herself. He chuckled at the insult and followed after her. After a solid ten minutes of them participating in a fierce match of Table Hockey, Josie lost for the second time, and cursed, glancing over her shoulder at where Goten and Valerie were pouting from where they sat on a bench.

"Hey Briefs." Josie called, Trunks looked up from where he was putting away the parts of the machine.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" She asked, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the two. He blinked twice, before sweat dropping and jogging to them.

"Sorry about that guys." He said. "Now then, what the heck were your names? Goku? Gohan? Loten? Moten? Damn, I can't remember…" He mumbled, feigning ignorance. He turned to Josie. "You got any idea?"

"Yeah, can't say that I do." She played along. "I think I got an idea as to what her name is though." She said nodding towards Valerie who glared murderously at her. "Malerie? Salary? Shoot, I can't remember. I'm drawing a complete blank." Valerie growled and Josie only chuckled.

"Okay, okay, geez. Don't have a baby.."

"Gotten? Forgotten? Oh of course! Gotey!-wait no, that's not right.."

…

That little game of jinx only lasted another four minutes before Goten and Valerie sprang up and attacked the two offenders, starting a scuffle. The two had leapt on their backs and pounded on them, until they shouted for mercy and quickly said their names to stop the onslaught.

"I'm still feeling that knock to the head, you didn't have to hit me so hard, Val, geez!" Josie mumbled as they walked back to the car, her rubbing her head. Valerie only smiled.

"Made me feel better." She said with a shrug.

"Alright guys, it was fun, but I gotta go!" Goten said with a grin at Trunks who was nursing his own bruised head.

"You're leaving?" Valerie asked, surprised.

"Yeah." Goten nodded, as he opened the car door for her instinctually and closed the door gently after her, as she lowered the window immediately. "I need to get home. I only asked for permission to stay one night and ended up staying two, my mom'll will come hunt me down if I stay any longer." Valerie nodded, understanding.

"See ya later then." Goten nodded, waving at the other two who were getting in the car already. He looked around carefully to make sure no one was around, before shooting them a grin and taking off into the sky. "Wow." Valerie mumbled, leaning out the window to watch the disappearing dot.

"Crap." Trunks mumbled as he looked at his wrist watch and quickly started up the car.

"What's up?" Josie asked as she buckled herself up in the front passenger's seat.

"Bra's coming home really soon, my mom wanted me back there before she came. We need to get a move on," Josie nodded, immediately unbuckling herself and leaning back to help Valerie who was struggling with her casted hand. Once finished, she buckled herself back in, giving Trunks a thumbs up.

"Ready." Trunks nodded quickly driving off. They drove in comfortable silence, that was only disturbed by Trunks occasionally glancing at Josie through the corner of his eye. She didn't notice it at first, but after the third time, she finally caught it and quickly grew self conscious and gradually annoyed, glaring at him when they stopped a red light.

"What's with the staring?" She accused, slightly annoyed and flustered. "Val give me a bruise or something?" Josie asked nervously, lowering down the mirror in front of her seat to take a look at her face.

Hands closing more tightly around the steering wheel, Trunks expression grew more openly worried, "I'm just… worried." He admitted. "Are you two going to be ok with Bra coming back home? or am I going to have to worry about you guys passing out?" Trunks asked more bluntly, looking in his rear view mirror to gauge Valerie's expression.

Valerie seemed to blush behind him and Josie only snorted, looking away. "I don't pass out, that's Val," Josie corrected with a small smile of amusement. "But...I probably won't be able to stop myself from reacting in some way..." She admitted. "How old is Bra?"

"She is turning twelve soon." He answered easily, as the light turned green and he continued driving on. Josie turned to look at Valerie with a frown, receiving a nod of agreement from her.

"I didn't even watch the series to this point, and even I know that's wrong." Valerie agreed with Josie's silent concern.

"Excuse me?" Trunks asked, confused. Josie shook her head.

"You're like triple her age or something, she should be like a 6 year old." Josie explained better, not at all surprised by Trunks lack of reaction. This didn't mean anything to him, but _did_ it mean something? "Well…how old are Pan and Marron?" Josie asked, scratching her head as she tried to calculate their ages in her mind.

"I think Pan just turned eleven, and Marron should be fifteen now."

Josie shook her head. "That's not right either!" She argued, worried.

"I think we just honestly messed up Akira's world completely, dude." Valerie commented from the back with a light shrug, as they pulled into Capsule Corporation grounds.

"Looks like it." Josie mumbled with a breathless and nervous laugh.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

"_No, no, no, No! I did absolutely *nothing* this time- you are NOT getting me on the bad end of Vegeta's wrath this time, do you hear me?" Valerie shouted, going back into her bedroom and closing the door after herself and locking it. Josie stuck her tongue out at the door. _

"_Coward." She mumbled, as she sighed, turning back to the hallway, looking for somewhere to hide. _

**End Sneak Peek.**

* * *

**Note:** Bit of a slow chapter, I apologize for that. I considered deleting it completely, but I can't lol I cling to the memories of how much I loved writing this at 13… sorry for the delay on this chapter, I noticed today that I've been putting it off figuring I'll do it tomorrow, but tomorrow never came! So I buckled down! Yay for buckling! Ja ne!

~*~Princess Geta~*~


	7. Chapter 7: Bras Homecoming

**Disclaimer: **I do not own DB/Z/GT blah blah. Now that we've got that all done and dealt with, please, read Chapter 7, review, make yourself comfortable and sit down to watch Flubber with me!

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 7: **Bra's Homecoming.

The three teenagers entered the house and lounged about the living room.

"Guys, I'm kind of thirsty, I'm going to get some coffee. You two want anything while I'm up?" Trunks offered. Josie shook her head with a smile.

"No thanks."

"Coffee for me too, if you don't mind." Valerie requested with a smile. He nodded and headed off to the kitchen, leaving the two girls to remain in comfortable silence. Josie quietly took down her hair down momentarily to shake out a little of the humidity still trapped in her hair, muttering about how insane it was that her hair was still wet after all these hours.

"Stupid hair." She stopped when she caught sight of Valerie staring at the wall, despondently. Josie felt her stomach clench with guilt; What was Val thinking? Did it relate to getting home? Was she still worried?

Of course she was, she thought, she had to be. Josie sighed, unable to shake the feeling of selfishness away. "Hey…Val?" Josie asked tentatively. Blinking, Valerie looked over at her, offering a smile automatically.

"What's up?"

"…I…If you want." Josie swallowed nervously. "I could _try_ to build it again. The machine, instead of waiting for the dragon balls." Valerie sat up, startled by the offer. She knew how against it Josie was - partially from not wanting to go back home, yes but mainly because of the uncertainty of what a new machine could result in and where it would take them; the possibility that it may do neither of those things next time, because next time it could very well just kill them.

"No man, of course not. Don't worry about it." Valerie assured with a genuine smile. "...I'm sorry I was so harsh on you about it before, I know you wouldn't keep us here if I was against it." Josie nodded, seriously, hoping she truly understood that. "And you were right before, I guess I was just worried," She said with a shrug. "But the dragon balls were a good idea." She assured. "They'll take us back home." She said confidently. "Till then…we'll just, get by." She said with a smile. "And enjoy ourselves." She added.

"…You two really aren't from this world are you?" Bulma asked. The two girls turned and saw her at the bottom step of the stairs, leaning against the wall watching them curiously. They noticed Trunks too at the entrance leading to the kitchen area, holding two cups of coffee. "I'm sorry," Bulma said suddenly, straightening. "We were listening in on your conversation, that was rude." Bulma admitted, grimacing.

The girls looked at each other briefly before shrugging. "It's no big." Josie assured with a smile. "We have nothing to hide now." Bulma nodded, entering the room further and sitting at a lazy-boy chair a few feet from them, while Trunks quietly came in and handed Valerie her mug and sat down on the arm of his mother's chair, silently taking a drink from his own cup. "It's weird." Bulma said with a sigh and a slight shake of her head. "I'm perfectly aware of the fact that you two are just not from this world, and when you tell me that, I believe you. Trust me, I completely do. But still…" She shook her head further. "As hard as I try, it's hard to get use to such a concept, of what you two are." Josie smiled oddly at her, clearly confused by that.

"We're really nothing but humans, Bulma." She assured. Bulma smiled.

"Not here you're not," She argued. "Here you two are…" Trunks gave her a look and she bit her bottom lip, focusing on her words. "Special." She finally finished. Josie chuckled at the oddly finished thought, and glanced at Valerie seeing that she too was amused at the description.

"Well," Josie started, as she got up, shaking her wet hair. "I'm going to go get a little more settled upstairs, unpack and see about getting this forsaken mop of hair dry. I'll be back down a little later." Josie said with a smile, rubbing the top of Valerie's head to annoy her, before heading off up the stairs. Valerie grumbled as she took another sip of her coffee, immediately forgetting all about Josie as soon as the taste hit her mouth, exhaling happily.

"Well, I just came down to get a cup of coffee myself - I have a few papers I need to send off to HQ before I get dinner started. Trunks, don't forget to contact Dr. Hurimu about that press conference." Trunks nodded and with a final wave, Bulma excused herself, heading towards the kitchen. Valerie took another drink, sitting in comfortable silence with Trunks, studying him curiously as he stared right through the television.

"...Hey Trunks?" Valerie questioned. Receiving no response, she shrugged and got up deciding to leave the guy to his thoughts and head up to her room for a while before dinner.

Thirty minutes later, a blue haired pre-teen entered the front double doors blissfully happily, carrying handfuls of suitcases.

"I'm home!" Bra shouted happily, as she closed the doors behind her with a foot. She threw her things hazardously on the closest couch, noticing her older brother sitting on the arm of her mom's favorite chair and raised an eyebrow. He sure looked like he was deep in thought. She went in front of him, looking around for anyone else and saw only him. "Hey, Trunks." She called, waving her hands in front of his face, receiving no response. "Yo, big brother!" She snapped her fingers in front of his face and still nothing. "Huh, that's weird." She mumbled.

"Bra?" Vegeta called. Bra looked around her brother, and her smile returned to her face when she saw her father at the entrance to the kitchen area. She grinned, going around her brother and hugging her father tightly.

"Daddy!" She said happily. Vegeta could only blush at such a boisterous display of affection, waiting until she pulled away, to shake off the reaction and tried in vain to put on a stern face for his youngest.

"What did I overhear your mom discussing with Videl about about you getting in trouble?" He asked, trying to sound much more upset than he was. Bra sighed, waving an arm away to dismiss it, as she turned back to study her brother.

"Oh Daddy, they were just a bunch of oversensitive jerks. Me and Pan may have broken some valuables and there, but they made such a big deal out of it, much bigger than what it was." She explained, smiling with her back turned to her father, knowing what his reaction would be.

"Bah, Stupid earthlings. Did any of them bother you?" He asked, angrily. She looked over her small shoulder and gave him a dazzling kilowatt smile.

It was so good to be home.

"No Daddy, don't worry. I was fine." She replied with a grin, receiving a satisfied nod. "Hey Daddy," Bra started, arms crossed as she turned back to look at her brother. "What's wrong with Trunks? Why isn't he moving?" He looked over at his son and shrugged. He raised a lazy finger and zapped at the cup Trunks was resting on his thigh. The mug shattered and the still relatively warm coffee spilled all over his legs, shocking him awake.

"GAH!" He stood up hitting his legs trying to shake off the liquid penetrating his pants. "WHAT THE HELL!" He shouted angrily. Bra's eyes widened and she raised her hands up in a 'it wasn't me' gesture. Trunks blinked out of his angry state.

"Bra?" Trunks asked, confused. She smiled hesitantly.

"Hey, big brother." She said with a smile.

"When..?"

"A few minutes ago." She said with a light shrug.

"Trunks what's all the commotion about?" Bulma asked coming out of the dinning room. "Why were you yelling-" Bulma stopped, making a noise of surprise in her throat when she saw her youngest standing a few feet from her son. "Bra?" She asked, happily. Shoving the cup of coffee to her husband beside her, Bulma quickly stepped forward and gave her youngest baby a tight hug. "Oh sweetheart, I'm so glad your home! I missed you so much, When did you-"

"Bulma." Vegeta called suddenly. Bulma turned to her husband who, as usual, was scowling. "Where have you been? Why haven't you started dinner yet?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. She opened her mouth to unleash a series of insults, but upon seeing both of her children, she gritted her teeth and went to Vegeta grabbing him by the ear, surprising him into yelping.

"Me and you need to talk about your attitude lately, buster." She said with false cheeriness, as she dragged him to the kitchen.

"Woman, you let go of me right now!" Their children smiled in amusement, as their father, the second strongest man in the universe, was handled by their tiny human mother.

"Hey Trunks?" Bra asked, still looking at the door.

"Hmm?" He asked, looking at the door as well.

"What's wrong?" She asked, concerned, as she finally turned to look at him. His smile dissolved at the worry in her voice and he turned to Bra with confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I know you weren't sleeping when I came in here. You were just…dazed, distracted, thinking really hard-" She shook her head. "I don't know, but it can't possibly be good, coming from you." Bra said unhappily. Trunks was surprised at how observant his baby sister was.

"Well…" He scratched his head, unsure of how much he should tell his sister about. "I guess, I'll tell you later." He shook his head. "I'm sure you'll find out by the end of the day anyway, so don't worry too much about it for now." He tried to reassure, knowing he'd failed when he saw the disappointed look on her face. He smiled and raised a hand to ruffle her hair. "Don't worry, kiddo. I'll see you at dinner, I have to clean up my room, so I'll see you later…And Bra?" Trunks asked.

"what?" She asked with a slight attitude.

"When you go to your room, if you hear any noises, just…don't freak out, okay?" He advised. Her eyes narrowed.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"What-"

"Trust me." He interrupted, with a smile. He left upstairs without another word before she could put in another question.

"Ugh! What the heck is going on around here?" Bra asked the room around her, with frustration. She grumbled, as she stomped to the couch to retrieve her bags and headed up the stairs. When she entered her room she was still cursing at her brother underneath her breath. She growled and threw her things to the side, not particularly caring if she broke anything at the moment.

"_Don't worry about it_, he says." She mocked. "_Trust me_, he says. He could trust my red boot is going to go right up his-" She heard a slight noise on the other side of her wall and frowned. "What the hell was-...oh whatever. Stupid brother, stupid mysteries." She shook her head and went into the bathroom, coming out in another hour, freshly showered and hungry; Her annoyance at her brother mostly dissolved now, feeling more relaxed and just glad that she was back home.

She happily hummed as she left her bedroom and walked down the hallway a few steps ready to go downstairs and check if dinner was ready. She went into the dining room and saw her mom setting the table and Vegeta already sitting down, unhappily frowning with his arms crossed. He must have gotten a scolding to be pouting the way he was, Bra figured, amused at the fact that he probably didn't even realize he was doing it. She smiled, _definitely_ glad to be home.

"Oh. Hi honey." Bulma greeted warmly, as she noticed her little girl come in. "Go ahead and sit down, dinner will be served in a few minutes, okay? Oh." Bulma straightened up. "I need to call your brother down." Bra shrugged, moving back towards the door.

"I can go get him." She offered, surprised when her mother immediately shouted for her not to do that. She stopped, turning to her mom. "Mom?" She asked, confused, at the overreaction. Bulma swallowed audibly, laughing nervously.

"Sorry about that honey, I had too much coffee earlier, I have a lot of energy - I'm just so excited everyone is home at once." She covered. "...But don't worry about your brother, I-I'll get him. You just sit, right there." She said, pointing to a chair. Bra looked at her suspiciously, but moved towards the chair anyway, glancing at her father to see what his reaction to all of this was; He showed no outward reaction, but that wasn't too surprising. Bulma went to the corner of the room where the intercom was placed on the wall beside the door that led to the kitchen, giving her back to Vegeta and Bra. She pressed the intercom button and called.

"Trunks?" She asked quietly.

"Mom? What's up?" Trunks asked curiously, noticing the hushed tone of her mother's voice, immediately while in his bedroom.

"Dinner is ready, can you also call…" Bulma glanced quickly over her shoulder, before turning back to the com. "V&J as well?" She asked.

"..V&J? Trunks questioned, chuckling, quickly figuring out what must be going on - Bra was in the room with her. "Yeah, sure, don't worry about it. I'll get them."

"Thanks." Bulma said. She turned it off and went back to her spot on the table.

"V&J?" Bra questioned, with an arched brow. Bulma tensed up again, cursing her husband's Saiyan abilities that he passed on to their children.

…

Upstairs, Trunks left his room, still in thought, and knocked on Josie's door. She unlocked the door and opened it, looking at him apologetically. "Sorry for locking it, I never mean too, just a habit." She explained, opening the door for him to come-in. He waved off the apology.

"Don't worry about it, it's your room, you can do whatever you want." He assured with a smile.

"So what's up?" she asked, offering him a seat at her desk chair. He took it, immediately turning it the other way to straddle it. It was a habit that he and Goten developed since a young age.

"Two things really." He admitted. "-Well, three technically." She tilted her head as she sat down at the edge of her bed. "Well number one - the easiest to say - dinner is ready." She nodded for him to continue. "And two, I was- I was thinking about what you and Valerie were talking about downstairs. Going home and your dimension."

"Yes?" she asked, curious as to where he was going with this. He shrugged a little.

"I don't know, I was thinking, maybe you should go to the Lookout and talk to Dende about it. While it may be true that he's only the Guardian of this earth, he's still pretty wise guy and may be able to tell you a little bit about how you arrived here, or what's going on in your dimension." Josie blinked, remaining silent for a few minutes and staring at her lap, digesting this new piece of advice.

"…Trunks?" She called, looking up at him. He blinked at the way she was staring at him and nervously gulped, wondering if he'd said something wrong. "That." A grin broke out on her face. "Is a great idea!" She leapt off her bed and hugged him while he was still sitting down, making it awkward embrace. Josie didn't care though, she was so happy at the idea and the possibilities of what his insight could be and how it could help them. He stood up, with her in arms, laughing nervously, as he patted her back, his face a light shade of red.

"I-I'm glad you think so." He mumbled, embarrassed, as she pulled away. "Listen, Josie." He said a little more seriously . "I have something else I need to tell you, but you have to promise me you will keep calm." He asked.

"That's impossible here." She said, blinking at him making him laugh.

"Well…thanks for being so frank about that, but please, at least, try not to scream, eh?" He requested with a smile. She looked at him curiously, and finally nodded.

"Alright. I'll try." She assured.

"Okay, good. My sister, Bra, came back home from her vacation already. She's downstairs." He saw her eyes widen and he cringed internally, unsure if he should protectively cup his ears for the next few minutes or if he should muffle her to keep her quiet if she started to scream.

"Bra? Here?" She bit her bottom lip to try to muffle herself, but shaking her head, she flapped her hands, a high pitched squeal starting to erupt from her throat.

"No no!" Trunks groaned desperately, covering her mouth with his hand. "Shh, Shh! Okay? Okay, look, I'll let you go now but you have to be quiet," He tried to reason with her, looking down at the girl in his arms who blinked up at him. He felt her attempt to sigh, and seeing the concern in his eyes, she nodded in agreement.

From this proximity he could feel her heart beat racing, and he chuckled, amazed at the reaction these two girls had even at the possibility of meeting some of his friends and family members. It was crazy. "Alright, no screaming please? Deal?" She nodded again, and Trunks hesitantly let her go.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh." Josie anxiously muttered, licking her suddenly dry lips. Trunks watched her nervously, and automatically grabbed her by the shoulders again.

"Josie! You promised." He reminded, desperately.

"Josie? Why the hell did you scream?" Valerie came to a stop when she entered the room, blinking at the two that were there. "Josie..? Trunks?" She asked, confused. Her eyes widened a second later, and realization flickered into her eyes. A grin came upon her features, and she crossed her arms. "Oh….I see." She said chuckling.

"NO!" The two said in unison, immediately separating to more than a reasonable distance.

"It's not what it looks like!" Trunks raved on, waving his hands desperately. Josie glanced over, amused at how he'd lost his cool so easily, to Valerie's insinuations no less. Had it been anyone else, Josie might have been embarrassed to be caught, in what she was sure looked like a compromising position, but this was only Valerie. If she thought something else was going on, which clearly wasn't, that was her deal; She smiled, crossing her arms, un-phased.

"Look." Josie started, more reasonably, than the fumbling half-Saiyan. "He came in here to tell me a great plan-"

"Oh, I bet he did…" Valerie continued, smirk still plastered on her face. Josie growled at the quick come-back, eyes narrowing.

"Shut up!" she demanded, annoyed. "He also said that Bra came back and that she is downstairs." Josie informed, and she smiled when it had the effect she was hoping for. Valerie panicked, her eyes widened, and her arms dropped to the side in shock.

"Bra is here? Downstairs? Oh shi-"

"Also, came to tell you guys about dinner." Trunks reminded Josie who nodded, glad to see that he wasn't blushing anymore.

"Oh." Valerie said blinking. "I…I'm not really hungry." Valerie explained, sitting on Josie's couch. Josie nodded in agreement and sat alongside her.

"Me either." She said. "I don't have much of an appetite for anything right now." She added with a sigh as she leaned back until she was laying back.

"Really?" Valerie asked with some amusement as she glanced over at her friend, who tensed up and shot her a warning look. "Cause it sure did seem like you had an appetite for _something_ when I came in." She said, with a grin, ignoring Josie's warning glare.

"Val.." Josie warned, unable to stop the blush that came upon her cheeks this time around.

"Alright, you two sure about dinner then?" Trunks asked, trying desperately to fight off the blush on his cheeks, as he tried to ignore what Valerie insinuated. He quickly edged towards the door, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.

"Yeah, thanks anyway though." Josie said. He nodded quickly, and made towards the door, but stopped and turned around hesitantly.

"Just…we're barely going to tell Bra, you two try to keep it down please." The two girls nodded.

"Sure." Valerie assured. "But, one request of my own?" She asked, before Trunks left. He stopped, and gave her a questioning look. "If you guys are going to be doing things like what I caught almost happening, please be sure to lock the door next time." She asked, with a faked sigh of unhappiness. Trunks eyes widened and the red rushed to his face immediately as he wordlessly shuffled out and closed the door behind him. Josie felt her eye twitch, as she stood up and rounded on Valerie.

"DAMN IT VALERIE!" Valerie smiled, putting a finger to her lips teasingly.

"Shh, man. Remember, we have to be quiet-" Josie shook with righteous indignation and growled, shaking her fists and kicking in frustration.

"Don't you dare push your luck with me, woman!" Josie threatened pointing a finger at her.

"Ok then, Vegeta Jr." Valerie said, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Would you rather I call you Son Val?" Josie offered, relaxing a little more when she felt Valerie's anger rising, knowing that the tables were slowly being turned.

"NO!" Valerie shouted, quickly, blush on her cheeks.

"Or how about Mrs. Son?-"

"Be quiet, damn you!" Valerie shouted. "All I'm saying!" She said trying to calm down. "I-is that you two shouldn't keep this a secret from everyone, no one will really mind. I don't think." She said, grimacing at the fact that the tables were so quickly turning against her and struggling to keep her advantage.

"Be quiet." Josie said with another glare.

"See how it feels?" Valerie asked, angrily, standing up.

…

Downstairs, in the dining room, Bulma and Trunks were explaining about their guests to Bra, who wasn't taking it that well...

"WHAT?!" Bra asked, eyes wide as she pushed herself up and out of her chair, staring at her family is absolute disbelief. "You've all gone nuts: memo to myself, never, ever! leave my family alone to go on a vacation. They will loose sanity.."

"Yeah well, talking to yourself isn't that healthy either, Bra." Trunks shot back with a smirk, crossing his arms. She snapped her head towards him sending him a fierce glare.

"Shut up!"

"Both of you, stop it." Bulma ordered. The two did so. "Sit down, Bra." Bulma instructed. Bra, hesitated, but did so unhappily.

"Daddy…" She whined. "Talk some sense into them." He looked at his daughter, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Their origins are unclear, but the two girls do exist, and they are here."

"Oh no, not you too Daddy.." Bra said horrified. They all continued to argue back and forth on the impossibility of what they were suggesting for an hour or so as they finished having dinner. They were unable to convince Bra, who stood firm in her conviction but all seemed to silently agree to stop talking about it. Bulma and Trunks comfortably ended their meal, untroubled, while Bra stared at the table unhappily. Bulma got up to take some of their dishes away, leaving a contemplative Bra. "Suppose…suppose I were to believe this crazy story of yours." Bra started with her brother, who glanced over. "Then where are they now?" Trunks simply pointed a finger to the ceiling and Bra glared.

Trunks smiled at her as he stood up and put his chair back in. "Their rooms are right in front of ours," He finally spoke. "Curiosity will beat you. You'll check, no doubt about it." He said confidently, as he left the dinning room to the living room. Bra growled and ran after him, pushing the door open.

"I will not! I'm not crazy like you!" She shouted, more infuriated by the fact that her big brother was ignoring her and going up the stairs. "Their isn't anyone here! YOU HEAR ME!" She yelled, shaking her fist at him. She huffed and turned back into the dinning room where both her parents watched her with surprise. "I'm not crazy!" she shouted defensively.

"We didn't say anything.." Bulma said, blinking.

"Yeah, but I know what you're thinking. I'm not, I tell you!" She said defensively, stomping out of the room like a child in the middle of a tantrum, leaving her parents watching her go. She muttered things to herself as she went up the stairs and into her bedroom, slamming the door after herself. She paced the length of her room for a few minutes until she calmed down a little.

_What is that? _She wondered when she heard those small noises again, she frowned, looking at the door. Carefully making her way to it, she opened the door slowly and listened - the noise was louder now. She looked around and seeing no one in the hallway, she tip toed to the door diagonal from hers. Bra leaned her ear against the door, able to hear a little more clearly now.

"_Can't you ever let me have a glory moment?"_ A female voice yelled, annoyed.

"_Of course not, it wouldn't be right!"_ A second female voice retorted back.

"_Really? And you bossing me around is?"_

"_Val, tell me this…since when do I care if I do the right thing?" _The second voice asked, sounding amused by the whole argument.

"_Never."_ Bra heard a quiet mumble. _"But that's not the point!"_

"Boo!" Said quiet male voice behind Bra, making her eyes widen a fraction before she jumped up, screaming, unintentionally hitting the ceiling. She landed down on the ground ungracefully, grabbing her head in pain and glaring up fiercely at her older brother who merely grinned at her.

"OW! You freaken jerk! Why on earth did you do that for?!" She demanded furiously. Trunks only chuckled.

"My dear little sister, were you spying?" Trunks asked gasping in fake disbelief.

"NO!" She shouted immediately. He gave her a look and she rolled her eyes, turning away. "Yes.." She mumbled.

"So, now do you believe us?" Trunks asked, crossing his arms.

"Believe what?" Bra asked stubbornly, getting up in a huff and dusting herself off. "That you probably picked up some strays?" She asked angrily.

"Excuse me darling, but we are no strays." Bra turned around to see two female teenagers with crossed arms leaning on different sides of the now open doorway that she had been trying to listen through just a few minutes ago. "Wow, it is her." Josie was unable to stop herself from adding, blinking in surprise, loosing her cool posture.

"Josie!" Trunks warned quickly. Josie glanced at Trunks and saw the reminder of what she promised him in his eyes, she rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Don't worry, I won't." She assured, taking a calming deep breath just to show him she meant it. She exhaled, hand pressed to her fluttering belly, feeling instantly a little calmer, smiling at the two. "So what's up? Were you two spying?"

"No!" Trunks defended, surprised. "Really, I wasn't. I came by and caught her doing the sin herself!" He said pointing an accusing finger at Bra, who huffed. Josie shrugged, indifferent.

"No biggie, we didn't say anything too important - other than Val here's deep, dark-"

"QUIET!" Valerie hissed, making Josie smile.

Josie turned to inspect Bra, who immediately noticed and glared defiantly at her. "So then Bra." Josie started. "You're a non-believer?" She asked of the young teen, who straightened up, and nodded.

"Definitely." She said stubbornly. Josie nodded in acceptance.

"Alright, I see that she's going to need some major conversion therapy." She said to Valerie with a sigh.

_C__onversion Therapy..?_ Bra wondered nervously. "Nurse Vali, get the table set up - be sure to use the one with restraints and ki absorbers like with her dad." Josie requested, glancing at Bra with one final look over. "..We might need a few tranquilizers too." She added as an after thought. Bra's eyes widened into comical saucers, and sweat dropped down her side. She stumbled for a second and only a 'whoosh' sound was heard as she disappeared out of sight, presumably having run the heck away. "..Nurse Vali? Make that a dozen tranqs." Josie ordered, with a tilt of her head as she looked in the direction that Bra had run in.

"Shut up!" Valerie said annoyed. "You're mean."

"I know huh?" Josie asked with a grin of amusement. "It's truly a gift." She said with a happy sigh. Trunks studied the hallway where his sister had disappeared with a frown.

"Yeah, well, surviving my father's temper is a **true** gift, and if you do indeed posses that gift, now would be a very wise time to use it." Trunks said, frustration evident in his voice. Josie glanced in the direction that he was looking at, not seeing why he looked so worried.

"He's right." Valerie said with a sigh. Josie frowned, these two starting to make her seriously nervous.

"...That bad?" Josie asked Trunks, who nodded grimly. Josie blanched and turned to look at Valerie expectantly, and Valerie's eyes widened. "No, no, no, No! I did absolutely nothing this time- you are NOT getting me on the bad end of Vegeta's wrath this time, do you hear me?" She shouted, going back into her bedroom and closing the door after herself and locking it. Josie stuck her tongue out at the door.

"Coward!" She shouted, turning back to the hallway, eyes narrowed, as her mind thought up dozens of ideas as to how to get out of this one - dismissing them all just as quickly as they came up.

"Any ideas?" Trunks asked. Josie looked over at him.

"Do you have paragliding gear?" She asked, scratching her cheek thoughtfully, a half crazed look in her eye. He laughed out loud, shaking his head at that random thought.

"You're a strange one." He grinned, but tensed within seconds when he felt his father's energy moving towards them. Safest place for her, he knew, was by his mother's side but she was at the other end of the house and his father would get to them before Trunks could get her to his mom.

He smiled down at her, she looked so nervous and helpless. He exhaled audiably, pointing a thumb at his back, receiving no argument, only catching a brief grin before she quickly got behind him; feeling her small hand latch on to the back of his sweater.

"Why do you do this to me, Josie?" He asked rhetorically with a small smile.

"I wasn't loved as a child?" She offered up with a grin, making him laugh.

Seconds later an angry Vegeta bore down on them, glaring through Trunks to Josie. "Who threatened her?!" Vegeta demanded, muscles tensing. Trunks gulped.

"Dad…hi, what's up?" Trunks asked nervously, receiving nothing but a harder glare from his father, Trunks sighed giving up the idea of trying to avoid this. "No one threatened to hurt Bra, Dad. Valerie and Josie were just joking around and she took it way too seriously." He explained.

"Nu uh!" Bra argued, sticking her tongue out at them from behind Vegeta. "They said they were going to use tranquilizers on me, Daddy!" Bra accused, pointing a finger at them.

Trunks growled, a familiar annoyance bubbling to the surface. "Bra, stop that!" He admonished. "You KNOW that I would have never allow that. If you were to just use your brain for one second and stop acting like a spoiled little girl, you would see that. No one was going to do anything to you, now leave Dad out of this before these two girls get hurt because of a simple joke!" He shouted angrily. Bra wavered under her brother's intense anger and tried to glare back for a few seconds before finally acceding his point.

She sighed, coming out from behind her father. "Okay." She finally agreed. "Daddy." She called, taking his attention away from Josie who he was trying to glare to death apparently. "I'll holler if I need you, okay?" She promised. Vegeta took another moment to glare at the new girl, before turning to his little girl and nodding.

"Fine." He said simply, turning, and walking away four steps before looking over his shoulder at Josie who'd just come out from behind Trunks. She froze in place when she he pinned her with his eyes. _"I'll be watching you_." He mouthed, before leaving. Josie glared at the retreating man.

"Great." Josie mumbled, kicking at an invisible rock on the ground, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "More threats." She muttered. "I don't like threats. I don't like them at all." She mumbled in a pout, growling in a way she hoped resembled Trunks'.

"Yeah, well, welcome to my world." Valerie said as she opened her bedroom door again fully. Josie glared at her and crossed her arms.

"Oh, now you come out." Josie accused. "And who cares if you don't like it!" Bra watched them banter back and forth with some badly concealed amusement. "It's wrong to threaten the threatener." Josie said in a huff, turning away. "Cuz then she won't be able to make threats to the threatie- and…" She frowned. "I now have a slowly forming headache." Josie mumbled unhappily, holding her temple.

Bra finally giggled, catching Josie's attention, who glanced at her with a raised eyebrow; Where was the girl's earlier apprehension? she wondered. She seemed to have completely forgotten her fear from before. Bra noticed that she had obtained Josie's attention and she smiled shyly. The younger girl took two quick steps to get to her and grabbed her by the wrist, starting to drag her towards her room receiving no resistance from Josie who only looked at the others with confusion.

"Come-on." Bra insisted. "If you're new to the planet, theirs a ton of things you should so see!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Josie argued, surprised, at the girls rapid change of heart. She tugged at her hand, till the girl stopped.

"What's the matter?" Bra asked, perplexed.

"I thought you didn't believe us." Josie asked, echoing back her confusion.

"Yeah, well... I think I'm starting too." Bra said with a shrug, and a grin. "This can be kind of cool - I can be your teacher for all earth things!" She said, eyes alight with the possibilities. "You haven't even gotten to see any of our boy bands, huh? They are so hot!" She dragged Josie's wrist again, much to Josie's chagrin.

"Come-on I really am not interested in any-wait, do they look at all like the backstreet boys? i like the backstreet boys." Josie asked, following after her.

Trunks and Valerie blinked at the closed door, confused as to what the heck they had just witnessed.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

"_Oh yeah." Josie said with a satisfied sigh as she leaned back in her seat and put her hands behind her head, imitating Trunks' pose when he mocked the others for having gotten them with a jinx. "This is going to be one quiet trip to the arcade..-oops!" Josie said, putting her hand to her mouth in a fake gasp. "I mean, this is going to be one quiet trip to the mall." She said, trying to hide a smile as Trunks glared at her. She patted his arm in comfort while Goten and Valerie laughed hysterically._

**End Sneak Peek.**

* * *

**Note**: No note, apart from Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you guys had a good one! Ja ne!


	8. Chapter 8: A Trip and a Scare

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, yadayada.

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 8: **A trip and a Scare

"Okay, you ready Josie?" Trunks asked, buckling up, as he, Josie, Goten, Valerie, and Bra were about to go out for the day. The others were still inside grabbing their coats while he and Josie settled into his sleek black Maserati Quattroporte Automatic Executive GT.

"I guess, as ready as I can be." Josie thought anxiously, as she looked at the interior of the car. The last time that they'd gone out, they'd gone out in a simple blue company car from CC, but this...

"You okay?" Trunks asked her, confused by her nervous reaction.

"Sure…but uh…don't you have some seat covers or something? This car is so…" She gulped. Trunks realized what her big worry was all about and smiled down fondly at her.

"Hey, are you kidding me? You're worried about the car?" She nodded sheepishly.

"It's…a really nice car." She defended, embarrassed. "And it's real expensive looking, what if something happens to it? We're just going to the mall, shouldn't we take a less consc-"

"Hey." Trunks interrupted with a smile. Josie looked at him, blushing as she realized she was probably being a bit silly by being so overwhelmed by his vehicle. "We're just going to go have fun, okay? don't worry about anything happening to the car. It's just that, a car. We have plenty of them. Don't worry, Josie." He said with a soft smile, placing his hand over hers to reassure her.

"Alright, sorry we took so long, Bra had us searching for her pink coat." Goten said with a sigh, as he got in through the backseat, alongside Valerie and Bra.

"Hey!" The small girl argued. "I already wore other colors, this week, would you have me wear the same color twice in one week?" Bra asked rhetorically, glaring at Goten who seemed to want to answer the question honestly.

"Of course not." Goten said with a sigh, finally giving her the response he knew she wanted to hear.

"So what were you two talking about?" Valerie asked Josie and Trunks who glanced at each other.

"Nothing." Josie said easily. "So you guys ready to go?" She asked them, looking over at them with a smile.

"Sure, sure, let's go." Valerie said with a shrug. Trunks nodded and drove out of Capsule Corp grounds and onto the city streets.

"So what did you guys do yesterday without me?" Goten asked, conversationally. Valerie smiled.

"Well, I didn't get to do anything, but I can't quite say the same for Josie and Trunks-"

"Valerie, habres tu boca y te mato, okay? [Valerie, you open your mouth and I kill you, okay?]" Josie said, smiling between gritted teeth, speaking half in English and half in Spanish. The car swerved a little from Trunks shock and the others stared at Josie in disbelief as well, all except for Valerie.

"What?" Bra asked, confused.

"Okay, okay, geez." Valerie replied with a grin.

"Excuse me?" Trunks cut in.

"What?" Josie asked, holding onto the dashboard. "Watch the road, Trunks!"

"B-but what did you say?" He asked, confused, as he slowly got back into the correct lane.

"I spoke in Spanish, haven't you ever heard of the language-wait, does it exist here?" Josie asked Val, confused.

"It's spoken here." Trunks confirmed. "I just didn't realize that either of you spoke it, kind of caught me off guard." He explained. Josie nodded.

"How about you Goten? You know any Spanish?" Josie asked. Goten gave the question some serious consideration.

"Hm. I guess I do." He answered, shocking everyone in the car. He'd understood the word 'okay' when she said it, and had assumed she'd said it in Spanish and that he'd just understood it.

"You do?!" Trunks and Bra asked, shocked.

"JINX!" Josie quickly shouted. "On both of you!" Valerie burst out laughing at the expression on the Briefs duo's faces.

"Now you know how it feels." Goten said grinning. Trunks continued to drive in absolute silence, glaring at the road ahead, while Bra stared at them all helplessly, totally lost. "Oh yeah." Josie said with a satisfied sigh as she leaned back in her seat and put her hands behind her head, imitating Trunks' pose when he mocked the others for having gotten them with a jinx. "This is going to be one quiet trip to the arcade..-oops!" Josie said, putting her hand to her mouth in a fake gasp. "I mean, this is going to be one quiet trip to the mall." She rephrased, trying to hide a smile as Trunks glared at her. She patted his arm in comfort while Goten and Valerie laughed hysterically.

"Haha, I wonder who that sounded like?" Valerie asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know I've heard it before." Goten added with a grin on his face.

"So then what's the boy's name?" Valerie asked Goten, both having absolutely the time of their lives bantering back and forth with his name.

"I swear it's on the tip of my tongue…" Goten continued. "Lunks, Sunks, Tunks? Chunks? Darn, I just can't remember." Goten said snapping his fingers.

"Excuse me people…" Goten and Valerie looked at Josie who had interrupted their little back and forth teasing. "I know your both rookies at this type of thing, but uh, when you make people miserable, you should do the job thoroughly, don't forget about Bulma's little clone!" Josie said pointing a thumb over her shoulder at Bra who sat there, looking dumbfounded. Valerie blinked.

"Oh yeah." She said slapping her palm to her forehead in embarrassment. "My bad."

"So what's her name?" Goten asked Valerie. Bra rolled her eyes and miserably melted into her seat.

"Don't tease her too much." Josie requested, her hands still behind her head, not bothering to look back at them. Valerie and Goten shared a confused look.

"Your reasons are…" Valerie asked. Josie sighed.

"Two reasons, rookies, first is that she didn't do to us what Trunks did, and number two it's going to be her birthday soon, so we can give her a break." She explained with a light shrug.

"Since when are you so merciful." Valerie asked, incredulously. Josie straightened up, surprised at the accusation. She glanced from Bra to Valerie, glaring at Valerie.

"I don't!" She defended. "I just.." She mumbled embarrassed. "I'm just feeling nice today, is all." She said with a shrug, distractedly rubbing her hand.

…

They all arrived at the mall five minutes later and throughout the entire ride over, the only thing that was accomplished was frustrating the children of Capsule Corporation with taunts from their friends. They entered the huge mall; Trunks and Bra had their arms crossed and stood in the back, while Goten's eyes started to wander to where he knew the food court was. Josie and Valerie could only stare in awe at the huge mall all around them.

"Oh man…it'd be so easy to get lost in here." Valerie mumbled, wide eyed. Josie nodded with a sigh as she looked around, she glanced back to their two miserable Capsule Corp friends - stepping towards them. "What are you doing?" Valerie asked, seeing her approach them. Josie pointed a thumb at Goten who was slowly inching away from them.

"I recognize the look in that one's eyes, he's going to be ditching us to stuff his face sooner or later, and you just said it, this place is huge, we are going to need some help." Goten groaned.

"I really am hungry guys, I skipped breakfast this morning." Goten complained, rubbing his stomach in pain. Valerie raised an eyebrow.

"No you didn't, you came over for breakfast, we SAW you eat." Goten blinked, and laughed nervously when he realized he'd been caught.

"I guess that's true, but come-on guys, I'm hungry again." He pleaded, Josie rolled her eyes waving him away.

"Go." She said. He jumped joyously, and Valerie nodded in agreement.

"I guess it was sooner." Josie said with a smile, as she watched Goku's youngest go. Bra cleared her throat angrily, and Josie turned to her sheepishly.

"Sorry, sorry, Bra and Trunks." She said, relieving them from their cursed silence.

"FINALLY!" Trunks said in a loud exhale.

"Again, big sorry, so where do we go guys?" Josie asked.

"Well." Bra started. "Mom told us to get you two a few more pairs of clothes, and I have to agree, you're not going to my party in those plain outfits that my mom pulled out of the basement for you. Trunks how about you wait for us with Goten in the Food Court while we do a little shopping?" Bra suggested to her older brother who immediately nodded, not wanting to get sucked up into having to follow around the girls. Josie and Valerie groaned.

"..Bra, do we really have to?" Josie asked helplessly. "Can't we just-"

"No! come-on!" Bra demanded sternly, as she grabbed both girls by a wrist (making sure to grab Valerie's uninjured one) before dragging them off.

Josie and Valerie followed along after Bra, unhappily, going from store to store. Valerie sighed as she followed after Josie.

"What store is this now?" Valerie asked, miserably.

"Fourteen." Josie mumbled, pouting.

"Kill me." Valerie groaned, burying her face in her hands. Josie nodded in agreement as she went through racks of clothing, not really seeing any of them, just going through the motions. She blinked when a red one caught her eye. She pulled it out, and studied it for a moment, before glancing at Valerie and throwing it lightly at her.

"Try this on." She said simply, as she went back to looking through the racks. Valerie caught the garment, but upon hearing the request, she held the item at arms length.

"Are you crazy? Look at it! No way you are getting me to wear this, there is absolutely no way." Valerie yelled, outraged.

"Really?" Josie asked, disinterested, not bothering to look away from the clothes she was going through.

"Yeah." Valerie said firmly.

"K then." Josie said, moving on to another rack, being followed by the hesitant Valerie.

"That…t-that's it?" Valerie asked, mouth falling wide open in confusion.

"What?" Josie asked, also confused, as she glanced at her briefly.

"..You, you're not going to argue with me?" Valerie asked in high pitched voice.

"Why Would I?" Josie asked, amused, as she took back the dress.

"'Cause you…I…never mind." Valerie mumbled, going back to looking through another rack of clothes. Valerie kept an eye out on Josie, suspiciously. _Theirs no way that she'd let it go just like that. She never quits until she gets me to do what she wants, but why isn't she just demanding it? Why is she just…letting it go? It's freaking me out! I know she's planning something! _She growled unhappily. "OKAY! Okay, I'll wear it." Valerie shouted, marching to Josie and snatching the outfit out of her hand before running to the dressing room.

When Valerie was out of sight, Josie bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing out loud at how twitchy Val could be sometimes. She smiled as she continued to look through racks that were closer to the dressing room knowing that soon enough she'd hear a complaint from Valerie. "Ew. This thing is disgusting - what is this, a skirt?!" Valerie groaned from inside the booth.

"Oh will you just come out already." Josie said with a sigh.

"No." Valerie said stubbornly.

"Come-on!" Josie attempted.

"No." She said simply.

"Please?" Josie tried.

"…You are never going to quit, are you?" Valerie asked with a defeated sigh.

"Probably not." Josie said with a shrug, as she waved in greeting at the onlookers with amusement.

"Fine." Valerie spit out, unhappily, coming out of the dressing room, with her head down. Josie studied the dress carefully with a smile.

"Now was that so hard?" Josie asked rhetorically, Valerie's head immediately lifted as she glared murderously at her, opening her mouth. Josie held up a hand, waving off the oncoming raid of complaints she was sure were going to come out of Valerie's mouth. "Never mind that, but don't worry, I agree. I'm not too fond of the dress. You can go ahead and take it off." She said. Valerie rolled her eyes as she turned back to go into the dressing room.

"Gee thanks." She muttered dryly. Josie simply saluted her back, smiling.

…

A week at Capsule Corp passed by quickly, and everyone began to prepare for Bra's birthday, when she would be turning twelve years old. For most of the week the girls spent in adjusting to life at CC, taking tours, unpacking, and settling in. Goten, Bra, and Trunks adjusted really quickly to the new guests and found themselves already pretty fond of them, forming habits that they hadn't practiced since they were all kids. They'd spend hours talking to each other at night about their world and sharing memories of the z fighter's past battles. Bulma participated every once in a while but Vegeta always kept a distance to stay ever watchful, ready for them to show their true colors at any moment.

"Trunks.." Bra whined. "When can we go to sleep?" She asked with a sigh, as she dropped her head back on the arm of the chair. She was lying on one of the couches from the Common area of their wing of the house. Trunks paced behind the couch she laid upon, while Valerie sat against the wall on the floor, yawning, with her legs crossed underneath her and a cup of coffee in her hands.

"I have to agree with the blue hair." Josie said yawning miserably, from her chair in front of the computer where she was typing up a guest list for Bra's birthday party. They were all working on details for the girl's party at three in the morning.

"Come-on girls, Bra, you want your party to go right, don't you? Do you want mom to make the arrangements?" Trunks asked, Bra's eyes widened.

"No!" She shouted, sitting up and staring at her brother, fearfully.

"Well, there you go. You have to help plan all of this or else it's out with the BeGees music again." Josie glanced at Trunks in surprise.

"You guys listen to the BeGees here?" Josie asked, amused. Trunks nodded with a sigh, as he sat at the desk she was in front of.

"My mom does anyway." He said with a shrug, as he wiped at his face. He was pretty tired too. He was preparing to take on his mother's position at Capsule Corp and though he still went to school, a lot of his time was spent training for one day becoming president of Capsule Corp, and now here he was loosing rest over his whiny kid sister's birthday party.

"Would you look at that, Val? They have the BeGee's here." Josie said with a chuckle. Valerie nodded with a smile.

"BeGee's are in every dimension man, you can't escape them." Valerie explained.

"So it seems." Josie said, smiling.

"So Bra, you sure you don't want to invite any of your friends for this one?" Trunks asked, confused. Bra nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure, it's been a while since we've had some of our family friends here, and I think that my party is a good excuse to bring them all here and introduce them to our new friends." Bra explained, surprising the two girls. Trunks nodded at the idea.

"I was hoping you'd be thinking along those lines, it's a good idea, Bra." Trunks admitted with a proud smile for his little sister.

"I'm glad you think so." She beamed at the compliment.

"Uh…a-are you guys sure about this?" Josie asked, nervously, as she swiveled in her chair to look at the two half Saiyans.

"Sure we're sure." Trunks said with a shrug. "That's what you guys wanted anyway, wasn't it?" He asked, amused to see Josie look so unsure of herself now.

"It is." She agreed, pursing her lips. "I just…it's hard to guess how they'll react, is all." She mumbled embarrassed, before turning back to the computer. Trunks smiled, putting his hand on Josie's shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll be here." He assured. "Not to mention, me and you talked about this, remember? Getting their insight would be a good thing. They're all really smart people and we may be able to find out something new about this that we hadn't already figured out ourselves." He explained, receiving a nod and a smile.

"You're right, we haven't gotten to meet anyone other than just you guys." Trunks scoffed.

"You make that sound like that's a bad thing." Trunks said holding his heart to feign hurt, as Josie shrugged sheepishly.

…

A few days passed and preparations for Bra's birthday became prominent at Capsule Corporation. Robots working left and right to make sure everything was clean and spotless for the big day. Bulma was at the CC HQ and Vegeta was training as usual. Trunks, Valerie, and Bra went on a small shopping spree to get all of the food that they were going to need; meanwhile Josie remained in the main living room, lounging on the couch and flipping through the channels. Goten had arrived a little while back and decided to hang out with Josie while she waited for the others to come back home. The two heard the front door open and Josie craned her head back so that she could see the front doors, even if it did look upside down. Trunks entered carrying a ton of bag and boxes, hardly recognizable. Josie blinked at how odd it looked backwards and turned her body around to see him straight.

"Hurry up Trunks! Get your fat body out of the doorway! This stuff isn't exactly light, you know!" Bra shouted behind him, trying to shove past him without dropping her stuff. Trunks rolled his eyes taking a few steps forward.

"What are you complaining about? I have the heaviest stuff!" He shouted back.

"Hmph." Bra mumbled, moving past him, looking around her bags she saw Josie and Goten on the couch and glared at the two. "Goten! Get up! Help!" Goten's eyes widened, before he scrambled up and rushed to the temperamental half-Saiyan female, taking as many bags as he could. "I'm going to make a few phone calls, some caterers were giving me a bunch of nonsense about getting the right food, now they better deliver what they promised me and mom." Bra said angrily, as she gave the rest of her stuff to the two boys and went to the phone in the living room dialing a number. Goten and Trunks gulped going into the kitchen and putting down the things with Valerie following after them with bags of her own.

Josie slowly got up and made her way to the kitchen, thankfully undetected by Bra who was busy shouting at someone on the phone.

"Geez, what's up with your sister?" Josie heard Goten ask Trunks, surprised. Trunks shook his head as he started unloading some of the groceries with the help of the two girls.

"She's been on a short fuse since the preparations started for her birthday party." Trunks explained.

"She's been like this all week." Valerie said with a groan. "Get _this_! Bring_ that_!" she mimicked.

"HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU GUYS, YOU KNOW!" Bra shouted from the living room, the others cringed.

"Swear it's like she's going through menopause.." Valerie muttered to herself, as she followed the others into the backyard. Goten and Trunks threw themselves on the ground, reveling in the feel of the sun on their skin.

"That's right boys." Josie said, watching them with her arms crossed. "You take in some of that sunshine." She said approvingly. "You two are desperately needing a little color on your skin." She teased, smiling, the boys immediately protested to the comment, sitting up, Goten sticking his tongue out and Trunks pulling his eyelid, down making her laugh.

"Look who's talking, man." Valerie said with a grin. "Your not exactly Princess Tan yourself." Josie chuckled and shrugged.

"I'm not as pale as them either." Josie defended.

"GUYS!" Bra shouted, coming out the back door. "What are you guys doing out here lounging about? My birthday is only in two days! Weren't you supposed to be printing out those invitations for me?" Bra asked miserably. Trunks groaned, but stood up no less, nodding.

"Yeah, sorry about that, guess I'll get to it." He said with a sigh, dusting himself off and going back inside the house.

The others stayed around the living room and watched a movie for a while, Bra only able to stay still and amongst them for thirty minutes before thoughts of her party distracted her to the point where she couldn't sit still any longer and left to go make a few phone calls. Josie yawned, not as interested in the movie as Goten and Valerie appeared to be. She got up without a word and went upstairs, she passed by Bra's open bedroom hearing her argue with someone on the phone and thought better of interrupting her. She went further past to the Common Area, and saw Trunks cursing at the printer that seemed to be malfunctioning. _Oy, Everyone's busy!_

She went past the children's wing and went upstairs. She looked around at the more professional looking floor and figured that Bulma had a lot of labs and offices up here. _Wow, look at all of this electronic stuff, do they ever turn this stuff off? Man they must have one high electric bill..._ She thought, as she left another room filled with equipment. She entered one of Bulma's private lab's and saw another door that said "Roof Access" She looked around to make sure that no one was around and quietly went up the stairs. Once climbing up the flight of stairs, she opened a final door, and she was outside. She blinked, in surprise at the bright sun and excellent view of the city below.

"Oh wow.." She said breathlessly. "This is incredible.."

…

Trunks, Bra, and Valerie came out of Josie's room. Valerie came upstairs to check on Josie an hour ago and had been unable to find her anywhere. She'd asked Trunks next if he'd seen her, and he'd left working on the invitations to help find her. Goten and Bra eventually noticed what the two were doing, and pretty soon all the teens were searching out Josie.

"Guys…" Bra started with a frown as they came down the stairs and to the living room. "I'm really starting to worry, she's been gone for hours now!" Valerie sighed.

"Well you know, she can get lost easily. And this is a pretty big place."

"It is, but we've searched every room of this place. She isn't in here." Trunks reasoned.

"Oh no, what if she ran away?" Bra asked, frightened.

"What? Why would she do that?" Goten asked, scratching his head. Bra clenched her fists.

"I've been such a jerk, and so demanding of all of you guys, maybe she got tired of it and left. Oh no, I made her leave!" Bra cried out. "I really liked her!" Valerie leaned towards Trunks.

"Is she always this sentimental?" Valerie asked. Bra narrowed her eyes at them, growling.

"I heard that! I'm glad to see how worried you two are about her! She's out there all alone in this world that she doesn't know, anything can happen to her! She isn't strong like we are!" She spat out, rushing up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Trunks yelled after her.

"To keep looking for her! Since you don't care.." She mumbled at the end. He growled.

"YES I DO!" He shouted.

"Yes you do what?" Valerie asked confused, having not heard the quiet accusation.

"Nothing." He said frowning, as he turned to the two. "Guys, what should we do?"

"I guess all we can do is keep looking?" Goten asked with a shrug, completely unsure as to how to deal with this. "I can look around a few blocks from the sky and see if I find her?" Trunks nodded.

"Thanks Goten." Goten only smiled in reply, and quickly ran out the door, in a second followed by Trunks. "WAIT GOTEN!" Trunks shouted, raising a hand up. Goten stopped in mid-air and turned around confused.

"What's up?" He asked, coming back to the ground, and approaching his best friend.

"..Goten, do you sense her?" Trunks asked, still frowning. Goten blinked, and then narrowed his eyes on the ground focusing on trying to do just that. Valerie came up behind them, and waited impatiently.

"I…I don't." Goten said shaking his head, sadly. Trunks growled, clenching his fists as he concentrated for what must have been the fifth time in an attempt to feel the girl's ki. The bad thing was that she was human and because of it she had little to no ki to speak of, as was with all other humans of the planet;The thing was though, that everyone had energy and even if it was a tiny thing, he should still be able to feel it, but with her, there was nothing. At all.

"I've been trying for some time now.." Trunks said angrily. "And I can't either…I just didn't want to jump…to conclusions." Valerie's eyes widened at what he was insinuating.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute here. Just because you can't sense her, doesn't mean she isn't alive." Valerie argued. "Can you sense me?" Trunks stared hard at her, and nodded simply. She gulped, confused.

"But don't worry, I know she's not." Trunks assured, he looked at the sky. "Goten we're loosing light, you should go take that look around the neighborhood. Work your way in from about 3 blocks all around." Goten nodded and immediately flew off. "I'm going to go ask my father, maybe he can pinpoint her, do me a favor and go check on Bra?" Valerie nodded and went inside while Trunks went around the house to the back where his father was predictably in the Gravity Room. He knocked on the door loudly and was about to go as far as manually turn off the machine without his father's permission, before he heard the hissing noise that indicated the door was opening. He took a step back and waited.

"What?" Vegeta demanded as the doors opened, drenched in sweat.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you Dad, but I need your help." Vegeta raised an eyebrow, some intrigue wiping away a little of his annoyance at being interrupted.

"Well? What is it?" He asked, impatiently.

"Josie, we can't sense her and we haven't seen her for hours, can you sense her?" Vegeta continued staring at his son for another few seconds, before staring off to the side, frowning. He looked up into the sky, and nodded in that direction. Trunks looked up at the sky in confusion, his eyes widening. Was he saying she was dead?

"She…might be on the roof of the building." Vegeta rephrased, pointing towards the house. Trunks immediately grinned, and took off into the air.

"Thanks a lot dad!" He shouted back, as he flew straight up there. He looked around for a second, before his eyes narrowed on the small figure sitting against a wall, not moving. He immediately came down, and in two steps reached her and picked her up by her shoulders; And just as he suspected, she was freaking asleep. He was torn between hugging her and shaking her until her eyes crossed.

He opted for a lighter version of the second option. He shook her up in the air, shouting, "ARE YOU CRAZY?" Josie startled awake, looking around fearful of where the heck she was and why she was 8 feet in the air being shaken like a rag doll by a purple haired man. _Trunks. _She thought happily, confused, but still managed to smile.

A lot of times it was still hard for her brain to wrap around the fact that they were still here. When she'd fall asleep, her subconscious would constantly try to trick her into believing that it had all been a dream. Confused as to why she was smiling when she was being shaken like this, Trunkse growled, angrily, mistaking her smile for amusement at him worrying. "IS THIS FUNNY TO YOU? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?" He shouted. Josie frowned confused, what was he talking about? And why was he shaking her again?

"Will you stop yelling at me?" She snapped. "I'm not two feet from you-and do you mind letting me go? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?" He asked incredulously. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU! YOU HAD US WORRIED SICK!"

"Why?" She asked confused, stopping her struggle to get down. A vein appeared at his temple and Josie's eyes widened at how much he resembled Vegeta at the moment.

"..**WHY?!** HAVE YOU NO MIND, WOMAN? LOOK AT THE DAMN TIME!" Josie tried desperately to muffle her laughter, but with her hands unavailable to her at the moment she was unable to hide her giggles, which only infuriated him further. "WHAT THE HELL IS SO FUNNY?!" He demanded, giving her one more shake. She smiled.

"You." She said.

"ME?" He asked, exasperated.

"You called me woman." She explained with a fond grin. "That is so like your Dad.." Trunks stared at the clearly insane girl in his arms, and he suddenly crushed her to him like there was not a moment to spare, knocking the air out of her lungs. "Oof!" She muffled on his shoulder. "Do..y-you mind…letting me go..I..can't-breathe!" She gasped out.

"Sorry." He said surprised, letting her go abruptly, making her fall on her rear end.

"Ow." She mumbled grimacing, as she slowly got up, rubbing her backside.

"Sorry." He repeated, embarrassed. She nodded, eyeing him suspiciously.

"So what's the deal?" She asked, crossing her arms. "What on earth had you so worried that you felt the need to suffocate me to death?" He shook his head, confused.

"I feel you." He said confused. She stiffened, blinking a few times, at what was possibly the weirdest thing he'd ever said to her.

"Excuse me?" She asked, shocked.

"Your ki." He explained. "I feel it. I c-couldn't earlier." Josie tilted her head, confused at that.

"Really?" She asked. "That's strange."

"Not that strange if your suppressing your ki." Accused a stern voice, Trunks and Josie looked up to see Vegeta landing a few feet away. Josie smiled with amusement.

"Hey Vegeta, were you worried too?" She teased. He growled.

"Not a chance, stupid girl." Vegeta retorted. "You were suppressing your ki." Josie furrowed her brows.

"Will you stop saying that, I was not. I can't hide it, I'm a weak human, you said it yourself." She argued, annoyed with his persistence that she and Val were some twisted aliens who were going to attack them at any moment. The suspicion was getting old.

"Then were you hurt or injured?" Vegeta challenged. She hesitated.

"..No." She acquiesced.

"You weren't going to die, were you?" He continued, smirking.

"..No." She reluctantly admitted. He nodded, satisfied.

"If you had told them in the first place that you could suppress your ki, these fools would not be driving themselves crazy trying to find you." Josie frowned at that. "But what I said still stands, you are a weak and pathetic being-if you are indeed a human, that does not prevent you from sensing or hiding your ki. You of all people should know that, seeing as our lives are your entertainment and all." He reminded.

"Of course I know that." Josie snapped.

"Josie?" Josie glanced up and saw Goten hovering ten feet above them, looking at them with surprise and confusion. He came in for a landing. "What are you doing up here?" He asked. "We were looking all over for you."

"So I hear." Josie said with a nod. "I'm sorry I worried you." He shrugged it off with a smile.

"I'm just glad you're alright." He said honestly.

"This is a waste of my time." Vegeta declared, jumping over the railing and off the roof.

"Jerk." Josie mumbled, sticking her tongue out at where the Prince of all Saiyans had disappeared off too. Trunks chuckled.

"Come-on, we should go tell Valerie that your okay, before she freaks out any further."

"Val freaked out?" Josie asked excitedly as she followed after them with a skip in her step.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

"_Don't worry about it, you just don't know them they way we do," Goten assured. "But you will tomorrow. You'll see what they're like, and you'll know, they're more than just some strange beings, they're people." He said with a smile. "And pretty cool ones at that." _

**End Sneak Peek:**

* * *

**Note: **Sorry this took so long, I was hesitant about something that I might change in the story, but nah, lazyness won, I'll keep it all as is for now. Hope you guys enjoy this one, till next time, please review!


	9. Chapter 9: A Seed is Planted

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, don't own, blah blah, don't own.

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 9: **A Seed is Planted.

"Ow." Josie muttered as she held ice to the back of her still throbbing head. She sat in the common area, on the couch, huddled up on one corner of it, while Valerie sat smiling on the other end with her arms crossed. Trunks sat at the computer chair and Bra stood behind the chair, hovering over him. The two Briefs glanced over at the girls and chuckled.

"Serves you right for scaring us that way." Bra defended.

"Hmph." Josie crossed her arms and tried hard not to pout.

**Flashback**

"_YOU BAKA ONNA!" Valerie shouted angrily smacking Josie upside the head, vein throbbing in her neck as she comically grew in size yelling down at the shocked and intimidated Josie. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? I WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU-"_

"_Aw come-on Val! I was only gone a little while!" Josie tried to defend. _

"_A little while is thirty minutes, maybe an hour! NOT FIVE FREAKEN HOURS!" _

"_I…well…I really.." Josie gulped at her red faced friend. "GOTTA GO!" She shouted, before scrambling out of the room and sprinting down the hallway with a raging Valerie giving chase. _

**End Flashback. **

Josie sighed. Valerie had caught up with her two more times, managing two more smacks in before she finally got her to calm down. She probably could have gotten her to back off earlier than that, but she did feel guilty over making her worry like that and knew she deserved what she got. Josie glanced at Goten, who slept peacefully on the couch across from theirs.

"So how are those invites looking?" Josie asked them, finally looking away from him, changing the subject. Bra looked back towards the screen, studying her brother's work, nodding, satisfied.

"I think we're just about done." She said with a smile.

"I am so glad to hear that." Josie sighed, standing up and stretching. "Can we head to bed now?"

"Yeah. We'll print these tomorrow morning and start handing them out in the afternoon." Bra explained. Trunks nodded, standing up as well.

"That sounds good to me." He said. "If you manage to wake up Goten, can you send him to his room please? If he doesn't wake up, don't worry about it, just let him sleep in here." He said with a smile as he glanced at his best friend. "Goodnight girls!" He said, waving once before heading down the hallway and to his room. He'd definitely had enough excitement for one day.

"Goodnight guys." Bra called to them leaving as well. Josie nodded, turning her attention back to Goten.

"So what do you think, should we wake him up?" Josie asked Valerie who glanced at him.

"I'm not sure. He looks kind of peaceful, I don't really want to wake him up." Josie nodded in agreement.

"Do me a favor Val? Bring him a blanket and pillow?" Josie suggested, Valerie nodded standing up and leaving. Valerie came back a minute later with the stuff and Josie got up - taking the pillow from Valerie and trying to lift Goten's head to no avail.

"Holy crap, what is his head made of?" Josie asked rhetorically, as she frowned trying to lift his head. Valerie chuckled putting the blanket to the side in order to help Josie.

"Hey be careful with him!" Valerie scolded as Josie nearly poked his eye in an attempt to grab him up.

"Lift!" Josie insisted. After a few minutes or awkward struggles, they finally managed to slip the pillow underneath his head. "Geez, that was ridiculously hard." Josie mumbled with a chuckle as she went around the room turning off the different set of lights. Valerie nodded with a fond smile. She loved being here with these people, how could they have gotten so lucky to be a part of this? Josie turned around before turning off the final light just in time to see see Valerie drape the blanket over Goten's form. She studied the two carefully, as Valerie got up and followed her out of the common area, turning off the final light.

"Hey Val." Josie started quietly, as they made their way to their rooms.

"Hm?" Valerie mumbled tiredly.

"What do you think of Goten?" Josie asked carefully, immediately Valerie became on guard and eyed her suspiciously.

"Why?" Josie tried to act nonchalant, giving a shrug.

"I don't know, he seems like a cool guy, and you guys get along well."

"I guess we do." Valerie offered vaguely, worried as to where Josie could possibly be going with this.

"I'm just...confused as to why you guys don't hang out more." Josie explained with another lazy shrug.

"I don't know." Valerie mumbled nervously, as they got her bedroom door and Valerie quickly went inside. "Alright, goodnight dude!" Valerie said in a rush, trying to shut the door.

Josie put a hand up to stop it, pushing it open. "I think you should ask him out." Josie finally said, getting to the point. Valerie's eyes widened as she quickly stuck her head out into the hallway making sure that no one was there to hear the ludicrous suggestion. She narrowed her eyes at her and yanked her inside of her room, slamming the door shut after them.

"WHAT?" She hissed out.

"Come-on, you have to admit that it could be fun. You two get along really well, and I've always been able to picture you two together in my twisted mind, even back home." Josie said with a shrug.

"You're right, you are twisted." Valerie snapped out. Josie merely smiled in reply.

"Come-on." She insisted, taking a step forward.

"No." Valerie stubbornly refused, taking a step back.

"It could be fun.." Josie tried to persuade.

"No."

"Do it." Josie said, trying a different tactic.

"…Or what?" Valerie tested, tense. Josie thought about it for a little, studying her friend.

She knew her well enough to know that Valerie was at the least attracted to the youngest Son member. If she didn't try to at least give her a forceful nudge in the right direction it was possible that she and Goten would be dead in the water before it ever got a chance. It's not like she needed them to get married really, she just wanted to see her friend get a chance to at least get a date with one of these guys, since she never intended too.

"Or.." Josie shrugged. "I'll tell Vegeta you wrote a yaoi about him." Valerie's eyes widened.

"I DIDN'T." Josie smiled.

"I know that but you know how Vegeta is though, that temper of his..." Josie shook her had with a wicked smile. "Even the possibility that you MAY have done that could set him right over that fiery edge..."

"You wouldn't." Valerie said shaking her head. Josie's smile widened into a smirk.

"Oh I would." She assured, big grin on her face.

"Fine!" Valerie shouted, angrily, storming into the bathroom. Josie clapped her hands happily; she knew Valerie was a bit annoyed, but who knew, maybe she'd thank her someday for giving her that experience. With that final thought in mind, she opened the bedroom door to leave.

"Goodnight Val." Josie called, chuckling when she heard a bad word shouted back at her.

…

Trunks and Goten were forced to get up early by Bra who insisted they go out and personally deliver all the invitations since they had been created far too late for her tastes. She was thankful that most of her family's friends already knew about the event and were coming regardless since she had called them personally, but she wanted to make sure to get them an invitation since they were going to have security at the front to make sure that no reporters or Capsule Corp fans sneaked in.

"I can't believe you slept in the common room." Trunks mumbled with a shake of his head as they flew over the city on their way to Gohan's. Goten smiled with a shrug.

"I was really tired, thanks for the blanket and pillow by the way." Trunks looked over the list on his clipboard of houses to hit.

"I didn't get you those, it might have been my sister or the girls." Goten smiled at that, a little surprised, but pleasantly do.

"They're so sweet, so where we heading first again?" Goten asked, taking Trunks clipboard away.

"Your brother's." Trunks explained.

…

"Wow." Josie glanced behind her seeing Valerie standing a few feet behind her, looking around her to see through Josie's window that overlooked the backyard. Josie nodded as she looked back outside, she could see why Valerie was so impressed, robots and workers alike were setting up the backyard for Bra's birthday party. Tables, decorations, and lots and lots of flowers.

"You'd think this was a wedding." Josie mumbled.

"No kidding." Valerie said grinning. Josie leaned her arm on the right window sill, making room for Valerie subconsciously incase she wanted to come closer. Valerie did so automatically, whistling, impressed. "You nervous man, for tomorrow?" Valerie asked. Josie Smiled.

"Hell yeah." She admitted. "You?" She asked. Valerie grinned.

"My heart has been threatening to jump out of my chest all day." Valerie confessed. "I don't even want to know what I'm going to be like tomorrow." Josie cringed.

"Me either. I hope we don't make total fools of ourselves." Josie said with a sigh.

…

"Bye Gohan!" Goten shouted, as he waved goodbye, hovering outside of Gohan's window. He flew up higher catching up with Trunks who was already heading towards their next destination. "Hey Trunks, why'd you go and hit me for?" Goten asked, frowning with a slight pout as he rubbed the back of his head, remembering that Trunks had given him a good one a few minutes back while with Gohan. Trunks glared over at him.

"I had to get you to be quiet somehow, you shouldn't tell anyone about the girls yet. Remember? We all agreed that we'd wait till we had all of the z fighters in one place, and deal with all their questions and concerns all in one day. That day, somehow, became Bra's birthday. Thankfully she doesn't mind, I think secretly she's getting a bit of a kick out of throwing everyone this curve ball." He said. Goten nodded.

"That makes sense. So where to next?" Goten asked.

"Roshi's." Trunks answered, before speeding up a little bit. They were able to get there in a relatively short amount of time and landed, everything looking fairly serene and quiet. "Hello?" Trunks called with a hand around his mouth.

"Anyone home?" Goten asked, raising himself on the tips of his toes as he leaned into the open window of Roshi's house to see if anyone was inside. Just as soon as his head peeked in, he saw bright yellow stars in his vision when something hit him hard on the head.

"Goten?" A girl asked, surprised. He groaned, bringing both hands to cup his injured head, glancing to the side where Marron stood inside the house, embarrassed and holding a pan, guiltily. "Goten I'm so sorry!" She rambled, throwing the pan to the side and opening the front door for them. Goten came in rubbing the top of his head while Trunks laughed hysterically.

"Why is everyone hitting me!" Goten shouted unhappily. Marron put her hands to her face.

"I'm so embarrassed." She mumbled. Trunks wiped away the tears that were starting to come out of his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Marron." He assured, as he patted his best friend's back and led him to a seat while Marron went to go get him some ice. "Hey Marron?" Trunks called.

"Yeah?" She shouted back from the kitchen.

"Where is everybody?"

"My mom and dad went to the mall to get a few things that we needed. And I think Roshi and Oolong went to rent a few movies. I was going to go too, but I had a lot of school work to do, so I stayed home." She finished explaining as she entered the living room again. "Here you go, Goten." Marron said, handing him an ice pack.

"Thanks." He said with a slight smile as he placed it carefully on his head.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Marron asked with a smile. "It's been a long time." Trunks nodded.

"Well, we came see if you guys can-"

"Someone is coming." Goten said, looking out the window. Trunks glanced at his friend, then looked outside the window as well just as Master Roshi and Ooling were coming off a boat that they'd just docked.

"Hello there!" Roshi shouted, waving from a distance. The three came outside seeing that Roshi and Ooling had a high stack of bags in arms.

"Hey guys, need any help?" Goten offered, politely.

"No thanks, we can handle it." Roshi said, as he walked off and went inside.

"Speak for yourself old man! Pig needs help!" Ooling shouted. Goten and Trunks quickly came to his aide, taking an armful.

"Wow, you guys must really love movies." Goten commented, amazed by how many they'd gotten. He and Trunks set them down on the couch. "What kind did you bring?" He asked curiously, as he dug into a bag.

"Don't look in there!" Ooling shouted, slapping Goten's hand away. Goten immediately retracted his hand and took a step back even, immediately recognizing that whatever was in those bags were probably not something he wanted to look at.

"…Er, anyway." Marron started, also figuring what they'd brought home and wanting to change the subject in front of their guests. "What were you guys saying earlier?" She asked, leading them into the kitchen and offering them seats there. Trunks nodded.

"Oh, right. We were wondering if you guys were going to be able to-"

"Oh hey boys, what are you guys doing here?" Krillin asked of grocery bags, looking at them from the side of the stack he was balancing. Marron stood up to help her father.

"Dad! When did you get here?" She asked, surprised.

"Just a few seconds ago, looks like we got here right after Master Roshi, didn't we?" Krillin asked, as he put down the groceries. Marron nodded, glancing back at the boys.

"I'm sorry guys, one more time? What did you need?" Marron asked, embarrassed at all the interruptions.

"We-" Trunks started.

"KRILLIN! Where did you put the Capsule case?" 18 shouted from outside.

"It's under the driver's seat!" Krillin yelled back. Trunks exhaled miserably, as he leaned forward in his seat and kept his elbow on the kitchen table, placing his cheek on his fist, thinking that it would be a while before they were able to leave Kame House and head to their next destination.

…

"Old man! You better not watch those while my daughter is around!" 18 shouted, as Trunks and Goten left the house and floated in the air.

"_Okay! Okay! Don't get your panties in a knot- well actually if you don't mind I'd-Oww! What was that for?_"

_"For being a lecherous old man!_" 18 shouted. Trunks and Goten looked at each other and grinned before flying off.

"That was…Interesting." Trunks summarized with an amused smile.

"Definitely." Goten said with a laugh. Trunks looked down at his list, happily.

"Well, so far we've got everyone we've come after. I think we should split up now, to make things go faster. We stayed way too long at Roshi's and it's almost dinner time." Goten looked at his wrist watch and nodded.

"That's a good idea." He agreed, willing to go along with anything that made this go faster so that they could go have dinner.

"Let's see. How about…you take the Lookout, Korin's Tower, then go to Chiaotzu and Tien. I'll go to Yamcha's, Hercule's, Uub's, and your house."

"Hey!" Goten whined, unhappily. "Why do you get to go to my house? Why can't I go?" He asked, pouting.

"Because." Trunks started with annoyance. "Dinner is already done at your house and if you go, we'll never get this done." Goten sighed and nodded, taking the piece of paper and pen that Trunks handed him, as well as more than enough invitations. "I'll see you in a bit Goten, thanks for helping. I promise well get you huge amounts of food at home, alright?" Trunks said with a smile. Goten grinned, waved, and flew off quickly.

Trunks rushed to Yamcha's place first and was unable to find him there, but Puar was there and had assured him that they would be there. He flew off in the direction of Mr. Satan's. He heard his cell phone ring and picked it up while he hovered over the city.

"Hello?"

"_Hey Trunks, it's Josie, how many houses do you have left?_"

"Hm, I have three more to go and so does Goten."

"_Ugh! Why are you taking so long? Come-on your Vegeta's son, speed it up a little, won't ya?_"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll go faster now." He assured with a grin.

"_Good, dinner is ready, and Vegeta has been threatening to eat it all for the last half an hour. If you guys don't hurry up, theirs going to be none left._"

"I'll try to get there before that. Thanks for the heads up."

_"Sure_." She mumbled with a sigh.

"Everything okay, Josie?" Trunks asked with a smile, recognizing the hint of annoyance in the girl's voice and being pretty convinced that his slow delivery of Bra's birthday invitations weren't the main reason for it.

"_Everything fine! Your father is just being a stubborn mean old man-_"

"_OLD?!_" Trunks heard his father's voice shout in the background.

"_Oops._" Josie mumbled. "_Er, gotta go Trunks, I'll see you later!_" Josie rushed, before hanging up. Trunks laughed out loud as he put his phone back in his pocket.

That was Josie alright, he thought with a grin, another day, another altercation with the Prince of all Saiyans. He powered up to Super Saiyan and rushed to his next destination with renewed eagerness.

…

Goten had already gone to Korin's Tower and gotten a confirmation from both guys, and as he sped up to go further up to the Lookout. Korin had offered him dinner and had been completely floored when Goten had rejected it.

"Can't believe I passed on food.." Goten mumbled as he landed on the Lookout. "I hope Bra's grateful.." He looked around and saw Mr. Popo watering some flowers nearby, and Piccolo was about thirty feet away meditating. Piccolo glanced at him for a moment, before closing his eyes again and resuming his meditation. Goten sighed and walked over to him-knowing him well enough to figure that Piccolo wasn't going to come over and offer a friendly greeting or conversation. He stood right in front of him, waiting to see if he'd get any reaction that way. The only thing Piccolo did was open an eye to glance at him and closed it right back up.

"Piccolo." Goten called, a little frustrated. "Will you stop meditating for a few minutes? Please?" Piccolo opened both eyes and stared right at him, arms still crossed, waiting for him to speak. "Thank you." Goten said finally. "I just wanted to ask you if you were going to go to Bra's birthday party?"

"No." Piccolo said.

"Please?" Goten asked.

"No." Piccolo stated.

"Please?"

"No."

"Come-on, Mr. Piccolo, everyone is going to be there." Goten whined, receiving another no. "Including Gohan.." Goten reminded with a smile. Receiving no answer to that but his continuous stare, Goten felt a little encouraged and continued. "How long has it been since you've seen him? A while, hasn't it? Come-on! This is our chance to get everyone in one place. What do you say?" Piccolo sighed and Goten cheered happily, realizing he'd won. "Great!" He excused himself and left the grumpy Namekian to go find the other two residents of the Lookout. Mr. Popo had stopped watering his flowers when he noticed Goten had arrived and waited patiently for him with a smile. "What about you Mr. Popo?" Goten asked. "Can you come to the party?"

"I'm afraid not, young one. My place is here, serving Dende."

"Aw, come-on, Mr. Popo. You don't have to watch me all the time." Dende assured with a chuckle, as he came out of the shadows of the building. He turned his attention to Goten with a smile as he approached them. "Hello Goten."

"Hey Dende." Goten greeted with a grin. "It's been a long time." Dende nodded.

"It sure has."

"So what about it Dende? Can you make it?" He asked.

"I'm afraid not, I have to make sure that the earth is safe and constantly watched over….not to mention I'm not very good with gatherings." Dende mumbled, embarrassed, remembering once or twice that he'd made a little bit of a fool out of himself. He smiled fondly at the memories, regardless, he and the Z fighters always had fun.

"Aw, come-on, Dende, the world will be fine! And you're always more than welcome. Besides!" He assured with a dismissive wave of his hand. "If anything were to happen or come up I'm sure we would have already been told by- uh…" Goten's eyes widened as he realized his flub, and tried to back peddle. "I..I meant that.." Dende only smiled.

"I'm aware of the two strange life forces that don't belong here, Goten." Dende assured. Goten blinked at the odd description of the two girl's he and the Brief's had gotten to know over the last two weeks. He frowned, unsure if he liked it.

"Well, alright…since you know about them, wouldn't you like to come to our gathering and see them for yourself?" Goten asked.

"Dende..?" Mr. Popo asked, confused. This was the first time he was hearing about this.

"Sorry, Mr. Popo, It will all be revealed in due time." Dende assured, apologetic.

"But if you go to the party, you'll find out!" Goten added quickly, like a commercial advertisement.

"Do you know them?" Dende asked Goten.

"Yes, and if you go, you will too!" He added in the same voice. Piccolo hearing everything that was going on with them had to admit to himself at least, that he was curious about these two life forces that Dende had mentioned. Dende chuckled at Goten's incessant advertising of the event, he nodded his consent. "Alright Goten, I'll join you all tomorrow." Dende assured.

"Great!" Goten shouted happily with a fist in the air. "How about you Mr. Popo?" Goten asked.

"Well…alright." Mr. Popo said with a smile.

"Great." Goten said giving them all a thumbs up. He wrote down their names quickly and gave them their invitations. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" He said waving as he prepared to take off. He stopped before flying off and hesitantly turned back to the others.

"By the way, they're not just life forces from another dimension, they have names; Valerie and Josie." Dende nodded.

"I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect-" Goten nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry about it, you just don't know them they way we do," Goten agreed. "But you will tomorrow." He assured. "You'll see what they're like, and you'll know, they're more than just some strange beings, they're people." He smiled. "And pretty cool ones at that."

…

With Trunks gone had gone to the Son's household and had to spend fifteen minutes reassuring Chichi that Goten was perfectly fine, and that he was only coming to drop off the invitation for Bra's party. Once he'd done that, he had to refuse the dinner leftovers she offered and had quickly sped away to Uub's village. He hadn't struggled much with him, he was naturally a gentle and humble teen with an incredibly sweet family. He'd felt guilty about being unable to stay longer but reassured him that they'd spend time together the next day. Now Trunks stood in Mr. Satan's massive foyer with Hercule wearing a far too small towel around his waist, and another one around his neck, apparently getting ready to go get a massage.

"So...uh, if you could make it, that'd be great. Pan and Videl will be there." Trunks explained, trying hard to look everywhere but at the hairy man. Hercule snatched the invitation.

"Tomorrow?" He asked. "Yeah, sure, I'll be there kid." Hercule agreed, not looking particularly interested as he threw the invitation onto a nearby high table.

"…Great." Trunks said dryly. "I'll…see you later Mr. Satan." Hercule nodded, waving him away as he turned back down a hallway frowning.

"HEY! Servant guy! Where's my massage therapist?!"

…

"Honestly Vegeta!" Bulma scolded unhappily as she stood in front of her husband with her fists on her hips, glaring down at him as he sat at the dinning table, finishing the last crumbs of dinner. "How rude can you be? Your son worked hard today to make Bra's day special tomorrow, and you go and punish him and Goten instead of rewarding them. Now…just, go train damn it! Your presence disturbs me." Vegeta snorted as he got up and left without another word.

"Bulma!" Josie shouted rushing into the dinning room, Bulma looked over. "The boys are here, and they're looking pretty starved." Bulma growled.

"I was afraid this would happen." She muttered, rushing into the kitchen with Josie following. "Josie can you-"

"On it." Josie said nodding, as she pilled on as many plates as she could and went into the dinning room setting them up.

"Hey dude the guys are-"

"I know, go into the kitchen and help Bulma bring out some more-hey!"

"Ooh thank you, thank you Josie." Trunks muttered as he and Goten took the plates right off her hands before she set them down and started gobbling them up as they made their way to a seat.

"Er…your welcome?" She said, blinking at the boys who consumed everything in less than a few seconds. She scrambled to go back into the kitchen and grab more. Another fifteen minutes later Josie, Bulma, Valerie and Vegeta stood in the dinning room watching the mountain high pile of dishes that developed and the boys who seemed like they would never stop.

"Pretty grotesque right?" Josie asked Valerie who nodded.

"Yeah, I can't seem to look away though.." She mumbled. Josie grinned at that, knowing what she meant. She went around the table and snatched the clipboard beside Trunks buried underneath piles of dishes and shook it to get crumbs off, grossed out. She saw a piece of paper poking out of Goten's pants pocket and quickly plucked it out, unfolding it and trying in vain to read it's contents.

"Geez Goten, you should be a doctor with this handwriting.." She mumbled.

"Mhm?" Goten asked, confused, between a mouth full.

"Never mind." Josie said, laughing as Valerie snatched the list from her hands, eyes quickly scanning through it's contents as she compared both lists.

"Wow.." She mumbled, amazed. Josie glanced over at her.

"Val?" Josie asked, confused. Valerie looked at her friend, throat drying up.

"They're all coming." She whispered.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

"…_Now then." Bulma said, wiping the last tear away. "You kids all gather together, I want to take a picture before the chaos starts." She demanded, hearing a chorus of groans. _

**End Sneak Peek.**

* * *

**Note: **I'm going to try to update weekly, Wednesday Nights! Reviews motivate chapters! Long reviews get cheetos! Ja ne!


	10. Chapter 10: Not Very Inconspicuous

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the start of my own case of the sniffles here, and even that might not be mine.

**Note:** Enjoy the chapter guys! It was my birthday last week! I just wanted to share that lol and also a HUGE thanks to Jrik23 who reviewed multiple chapters with exciting feedback that made me want to go back into working on the story right away, I really sincerely appreciate when you guys take the time to tell me what you like, what you didn't - it pumps me up for posting up more. Thanks again Jrik23!

**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 10: **Not very inconspicuous

Bra came out of the bathroom at precisely seven in the morning, humming a tune wearing her bright pink robe, and a matching pink towel around her hair.

'It's my birthday…my birthday." She sang happily, as she skipped to her closet to take out her outfit. Another hour later she came out of her bedroom fully dressed in her trademark outfit. She stopped when she left the room, seeing Josie waiting right beside the door, leaning against the wall.

"Good morning." Josie greeted pleasantly. "Just wanted to be the first to wish you a happy birthday. Am I lucky number one?" She asked.

Bra grinned. "Yeah, thank you." Laughing when she was enveloped in a hug by her friend. "So how's everything going?" Bra asked, as Josie smiled and nodded for her to follow her. They went downstairs, through the dinning area and to the backyard where more robots and workers were bringing out enough different foods to feed an army.

"Looks nice, don't it?" Josie asked, crossing her arms as they studied the backyard. Bra nodded with a smile, glancing over at her.

"So how you doing? You got any butterflies yet?" Bra asked. Josie put a hand to her stomach smiling nervously.

"More like bees, quite honestly." Bra laughed.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be fine, they'll love you guys." Josie merely made a pathetic noise in reply.

It'd be great if they liked her, but that wasn't even her biggest concern. _What if they think like Vegeta does? What if they think we're a threat too?_ She frowned at that, she'd really hate to have these people that she admired for so long, hate her.

_"_Hey!" Bra called, smiling with affectionate at the obviously nervous girl. "Stop worrying, will ya? This is my birthday! No one would do anything to hurt you while we are here. Okay?" Josie nodded with a smile, not wanting to be a downer for Bra's birthday.

"I believe you." She lied. "Now then, I'm going to go and let everyone know that you're awake, you need me to get you anything, birthday girl?" Josie asked.

"Nope, but I am wondering what your going to be wearing today." Bra started with a smile, looking at what Josie was wearing. Josie followed her line of sight, down at herself, and Bra was right. She wasn't looking particularly special today, she was only wearing light blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

"Sure, Sure - let's not worry about that right now, I got something a little more amusing in mind for right now." Bra tilted her head, curious as to what the devious Josie had in mind.

…

Upstairs, Valerie was coming out of her shower already clothed in baggy black shirts and a baggy white t-shirt, towel drying her hair with one hand. She stopped right outside her door when she noticed Bra and Josie sitting on her bed, waiting patiently. Valerie frowned at the sight, but shook off the bad feeling of what this could mean, before nodding at Bra with a hesitant smile.

"Happy Birthday, little Briefs." Bra smiled, as she hopped up.

"Thanks Val." she replied, as she went past her going to her closet. Valerie watched her with confusion, and looked at Josie who was still staring at her with amusement.

"Good morning." Josie said easily. Valerie nodded.

"What…are you guys up to?" She asked, confused.

"Nothing." Bra said turning her head with a smile. "We just decided to be great friends to you and help you decide what your wearing for my party today."

"NO!" Valerie shouted. She grimaced at her loud tone. "Er, I mean, no, thank you. I'll really be fine, I was thinking of just wearing this." She said pointing down to what she had on. Bra looked at what she was wearing and shook her head slowly.

"Yeah, that's not going to do for your introduction." Valerie looked confused.

"Introduction?" She asked Josie. Josie shrugged lightly.

"Bra wants us to make a good impression with the Z fighters." Bra nodded as she turned back to the closet and continued rummaging through some of Valerie's new purchases from their shopping trip to the mall.

"I don't really…think they'll care about what I'm wearing." Valerie said reasonably.

"Maybe not." Bra acknowledge, with a small shoulder shrug. "But you should care about what at least one **person** at that party thinks of how you look." Valerie's eyes widened as she turned to glare murderously at Josie, who cringed.

"She pulled it out of me, claimed birthday present right and made me feel guilty. She's good Val." Josie tried to excuse. "Besides, she's sworn to secrecy." Bra nodded.

"No one outside this room is going to know about you and Goten." She assured.

"There is no me and Goten!" Valerie shouted. "I don't even - and he doesn't. UGH!" She went back into the bathroom to finish towel drying her hair. Josie followed her up to the doorway, looking in at her with a smile.

"I promise Val, it won't be so bad." She reassured. Valerie's only reply was to flip her off, making her grin; Josie looked to the side, out of Valerie's sight and nodded at Bra. "That's good, except I don't think she'll do a dress today, so how about we try a skirt?" Josie offered - what she thought - to be a good compromise.

"What color?" Valerie could hear Bra's voice inquire, happily.

"Black'll do just fine." Josie said as she glanced at Valerie's current attire of black shorts.

"Can I pick a short skirt?" Bra asked.

"It's your birthday." Josie said with a shrug and a smile.

"Wait no!" Valerie shouted as she tried to go past Josie who smiled and moved aside. Valerie cringed when she saw what Bra was holding up, all ready to go. It was a black leather skirt that reached her mid thighs and a dark red t-shirt.

"You're kidding me…" Valerie started. Bra shook her head with a smirk.

"Wait till you see the shoes I picked out.." Bra forewarned. She laughed as she heard a beeping noise in the room, she went to the wall beside the door and pressed it firmly in. Before their eyes a small square piece of the wall flipped over, about six inches wide and long that looked an awful lot like a intercom. Valerie and Josie's eyes widened as Bra nonchalantly pushed a button and said, "Yes?" Questioningly.

"…I didn't even realize I had one of those." Valerie mumbled to Josie who nodded, just as amazed.

"Me either...Do you think I have one?" Josie asked, looking over at her, receiving nothing but a shrug.

"_Bra?_" Bulma called.

"Yeah mom, what's up?" She asked, leaning a shoulder beside the wall.

"_You've got some stuff down here that were apparently delivered? if you want to come down and get it_." Bra nodded, satisfied.

"Thanks mom, I'll do that in a little bit."

"_Alright, sweetheart, is Josie there with you_?" Bra glanced at Josie who looked up when her name was called.

"Yeah, she's here, why?" Bra asked.

"_Bring her downstairs too, will you?_" Bra looked at Josie with some confusion, silently asking her what that was all about. Josie looked equally confused so she figured she probably didn't know much about it either.

"Um…alright mom, well be down in a sec." Bra released the button she was pressing and gestured for Josie to follow after her out the door. Valerie took a few hesitant steps towards them, eyeing the outfit left laid out on her bed for her.

"Should I go with you guys?" She asked, unsure. Bra peeked back in the door, after Josie came out, and shook her head.

"No, start getting dressed, I'm sure we won't be more than a few minutes, then we can get started on your hair."

"Great." Valerie mumbled sarcastically, as she crossed her arms, eyeing the offensive clothes on the bed.

…

Downstairs Bulma and Vegeta sat on a couch when Josie and Bra came down the stairs. Bulma grinned, standing up as she saw her beautiful daughter and immediately embraced her tightly, telling her how much she loved her and wishing her a happy birthday. Josie was absolutely flabbergasted to see Vegeta give his daughter a genuine smile and to see him embrace her and wish her a happy birthday as well.

"Ah, mom!" Bra whined when she noticed her mother start to get teary eyed.

"I'm sorry." Bulma apologized, embarrassed, as she wiped at her eyes. "You're just growing up so fast!" She explained, laughing. Bra rolled her eyes but smiled. She glanced down at the coffee table where a black plastic covered bag hugged some purchases that Bra made the other day while at the mall.

"Those it?" Bra asked her mom, who looked at them as well, and nodded. Bra grinned excitedly. "Thank you parents!" She took the bag and went towards the stairs, and stopped, remembering that Josie was summoned as well. "…What about Josie?" She asked her mom, confused. Bulma finally looked over at Josie with a smile.

"We just needed to have a small talk with her, don't worry about it honey, you go ahead on upstairs and finish getting ready for your party." Bra nodded hesitantly, and glanced once more at Josie before going up the stairs. Josie made a whining noise in her throat as she watched Bra go, unhappily. That blue haired teen was her best chance at invoking mercy if she was in trouble. Bulma saw how nervous Josie was, standing there, with her head bowed and fingers twiddling together nervously and chuckled, fondly.

"Honey, go ahead and sit down." Josie nodded and slowly sat across from them.

"…Am I in trouble?" Josie asked, nervously.

"No, sweetheart, nothing like that." Bulma said, chuckling. "We just wanted to talk to you about the incident the other day, when the kids couldn't find you?" Josie slapped her own forehead in embarrassment.

"So you heard about that huh?" She asked. Bulma nodded with a smile.

"I'm just glad that you were alright and on the premises," She said. "I know you two are from a different dimension and though you may know a lot about our world, you've never experienced it before." She explained reasonably. "With the entire situation that occurred the other day, it just got me thinking of how nervous it makes me think of you two out there all alone in this world. I just want you to promise me that you'll be careful, okay? I'm not naïve as to think that you'll only stay safely within our capsule Corporation walls; so I just ask that you be safe, careful, and that you keep an open line of communication with us as to what you would like to do." She requested. "Though it's true that we're not your parents-"

"Thankfully." Vegeta muttered.

"Vegeta!" Bulma admonished , embarrassed. She turned to Josie who thankfully had not taken the comment too seriously and was trying hard to hold back her laughter. "Sorry." Bulma said with a smile. "As I was saying," She started again, glaring at Vegeta. "Though we're not your parents and we can't exactly tell you what you can and cannot do, we'd like to keep an eye out for you guys, and protect you as best we can while you're not under the guardianship of your parents. So just please talk to us, when and if you need anything. You're our guests here now and you know that we can absolutely provide you with anything that you may need, I don't want you to feel embarrassed and not ask for something you need. Alright?" Josie had calmed down considerably throughout Bulma's speech, and all she could do now was smile with gratitude and affection.

"…Bulma." Josie started, with a shake of her head. "I Just don't know how we could ever thank you for all that you've done for us. I know that I was excited to come into this dimension and experience this all, but if you hadn't opened up your home to us, I don't know how we would have made it. We owe you guys so much." Bulma smiled.

"You don't owe us anything, sweetheart, we're glad to have you here." Bulma said honestly, ignoring Vegeta's slight huff that she felt in his body more than heard. Josie smiled when she heard the noise. "But anyway, now that we've covered that. The main reason I brought you down here was to talk to you about the party, do you think you'll fair alright? Having all of the gang here in one place? at one time?" Josie's smile turned sheepish.

"I promise that…we'll…try." Josie said slowly, trying to figure out how to make this promise an honest one without guaranteeing what Bulma was requesting, since she'd likely be lying if she was unable to deliver. "It's just, it's hard, me and Val have watched you all since we were little girls, and to finally meet some of you, it's…" She shook her head unable to even come up with a word strong enough to cover all the emotions that she felt since coming here. Bulma smiled, nodding.

"Don't worry, I understand. I figured that would be the case - and I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of keeping this from everyone, so it's probably best that we tell them all the truth anyway." She explained. Josie bit her bottom lip nervously. How had the day come so quickly? She nodded.

"That sounds good. When should we tell them?" She asked. Bulma thought the question over in her mind, trying to figure out when would be the best time to break it to her friends. She knew that if she were telling Goku, the best time would be was when he was eating, because his attention was otherwise diverted, but with the others, it was hard to guess. She shook her head.

"I really figure theirs no easy way to slowly bring up the subject, so we'd probably be better off gathering everyone in one area and tackling it head on, answering any questions they may have. Is that alright with you?" Josie nodded.

"That's fine, well do whatever we can to help make this go as easy as possible for you guys." Josie assured, Bulma reached across the coffee table and patted Josie's knee.

"Thank you, sweetheart. You can go ahead upstairs now to finish getting ready if you like. That was all I wanted to let you know - plus more." Bulma said with a chuckle. "If you could please tell Valerie about what we talked about as well, when you get a chance?" Bulma asked. Josie nodded as she stood up.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll catch Val up." Josie said, as she gave Bulma and Vegeta a little wave and quickly went up the stairs, bumping into what felt like a rock, immediately starting to fall back before she was quickly yanked up the stairs-out of the view of Bulma and Vegeta. Josie blinked, confused, looking down at where a hand was covering her mouth, she quickly looked up and saw Trunks trying to signal for her to be quiet. Josie glared, glancing behind her, and yanking his hands off her, as she marched up the stairs, grabbing him the collar of his shirt and pulling at him to follow her as an afterthought. They made it up the stairs, and Trunks gulped as he noticed that she kept throwing glares back at him every few steps; Right before taking a turn to go into the hallway that led to their bedrooms, she turned around abruptly and put her hands on her hips expectantly.

"What is it with you and trying to crush me these last couple of days?" She asked rhetorically, putting a hand up to stop what she knew was going to be a lame explanation. "Don't ever bother, I already know what you were doing." She assured. "And you could have just asked me, you know. I would have told you what they said to me." She said, finishing the statement with more amusement than ire. She'd already figured while she dragged him down the hallway that Bra must have let him in on the fact that her parents wanted to talk to her, and that the teenager had figured that the best person to spy with the most chance of not being detected was Trunks. He was very sloppy though, and she was sure that his father had probably felt him there as well. "So was your curiosity satisfied?" she asked. He chuckled, embarrassed, as he scratched a cheek with his index finger.

"I guess so. I'm sorry about that Josie." He apologized. She waved it off with a hand and a smile.

"Don't worry about it, not a big deal. You can update the girls later." She told him before turning around and going down the hallway, and into Bra's bedroom where Bra kneeling on Valerie's bed, struggling with the whining girl who's hair was being combed.

"Will you hold still!" Bra scolded Valerie. "It'll only hurt more this way!" Josie smiled at the sight, leaning on the doorway.

"How's it going in here girls?" She asked. The two looked over at her, Bra studying her, trying to silently figure out if Josie had gotten in some sort of trouble. It certainly didn't seem like it by Josie's calm demeanor. Valerie took the opportunity to quickly swipe the brush from Bra's hand and quickly threw it to the far corner of the room, rubbing her head.

"How'd it go, man?" Valerie asked. Josie shrugged.

"You guys can ask your spy later." She said with a grin. "For now, I'll let Bra finish up with your hair. The outfit looks good on you by the way Val." Val snorted, looking down at herself. She felt so unbelievably exposed at the moment. "Alright, well at least you have to admit that the footwear is pretty damn awesome." Valerie looked down at her feet, she was wearing some pretty amazing deep, rich red satin high heel sneakers with white laces.

"I've never even seen shoes like these.." Valerie admitted, pretty impressed. Josie nodded as she studied them too.

"Yeah, I saw them at the mall the other day and could easily picture you wearing them, so I got your size." Valerie nodded.

"Thanks man." She said honestly. "I don't think the heel is very comfortable, but I have to admit, these are pretty nice." Josie grinned.

"Now your getting it. Bra, just brush her hair, go ahead and leave it down, I've got a white hair band that would finish this." Bra nodded and Josie quickly left the room and came back no more than two minutes later.

"There. What do you think?" Bra asked Valerie who looked herself over in the six foot mirror on one of her walls, finally nodding.

"Alright, I'll admit, I don't look bad." She said with a sigh of agitation. Josie and Bra merely grinned at each other. "I wouldn't mind another few inches of length on this tight thing." She said grimacing at the skirt. "But the rest looks fine." Josie nodded, figuring that was as good as they were going to get from her.

"Alright guys I'm going to go start getting ready, I'll see you guys downstairs." Josie said, giving a slight wave and walking out of the room and into her bedroom, turning to close the door behind her, stopping when she saw Valerie standing there. She arched a brow at them. "Everything okay?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah man, I just figured since you were so 'generous' in helping me pick out an outfit for today's shindig, I should be kind and do the same in return." She said, with her eyes narrowed. Josie smiled about to retort why that wasn't going to happen when Bra passed by, behind Valerie.

"No need Val, Josie's outfit is already picked out." Bra said dismissively.

"What?" Josie asked, surprised. "No it isn't, I haven't had a chance to-"

"It's already on your bed Josie." Bra insisted. "Now get changed, we don't have a lot of time before everyone starts arriving. Come-on Val!" Bra insisted, tugging at Valerie's wrist. Valerie grinned happily at Josie, satisfied that she was likely going to receive the same punishment and marched off, kind of awkwardly, after Bra. Josie groaned, closing the door and locking it - turning slowly towards her bed, fully prepared to see the most sluttish outfit in the history of mankind on there. She saw a black plastic bag and she immediately remembered seeing that in the living room with Bulma.

"Crazy Briefs chick." Josie muttered, shaking her head, at the thought that the teenager had been planning this for a while and had actually ordered her outfit ahead of time. She sighed as she went to it, unzipping the bag and blinking in surprise at what she found there.

…

Bra had left Valerie downstairs in the living room, the two had gone to the backyard and received word that the Son's were on their way. Bra had left Valerie to get use too the idea in the living room as Bra rushed up the stairs to help Josie, figuring that the clever girl would find a way to get out of wearing her indicated outfit, or at least try to cover it up somehow. With that possibility in mind, Bra went to put a stop to that and to help her finish sooner. Valerie remained in the living room feeling awkward and uncomfortable as she tried to sit comfortably on the couch without showing anything she wasn't supposed too.

"Stupid bossy girls, trying to tell me what to wear.." Valerie muttered, unhappily. "Who do they think they are.." She continued. She looked around, sighing, at least she was alone for the moment. "And I guess I should be grateful they didn't put me in a revealing shirt, the last thing I need is to worry about these coming out.." She muttered, indicating her chest.

"Val, is that you?" Trunks asked from the dinning room as he came in, stopping, and blinking as he caught sight of Valerie. "Hey Val." He said, a bit surprised. "I almost didn't recognize you." He said chuckling. "What on earth happened?" Valerie growled.

"Your sister and Josie happened." Trunks laughed.

"I don't even know why I'm surprised. If it's any comfort to you, you look great." He tried to assure. Valerie groaned, burying her face in her hands in mortification, the last thing she needed right now was a compliment. Trunks rubbed the back of his head, confused.

Girls were so weird.

Trunks was wearing a faded green suit with a white undershirt and a brighter green tie. "Trunks my parents are in the- whoa." Goten stopped, surprised, when he saw Valerie. "Val?" He asked with a smile. "Look at you! You look incredible!" Valerie only groaned louder and buried her face deeper in her hands to hide her embarrassment and the deep blush that she was sure was notable on her face. Goten looked at Trunks, confused, only receiving a grin from Trunks and a light shrug. Goten was wearing a brown suit with a white undershirt and a bright red tie that he'd borrowed from his father.

"Hey Goten, did you say hi to your folks al- wow Valerie." Bulma said with a huge smile, slowing to a stop when she came into the living room through the front door and saw Valerie. "You look wonderful, sweetheart." She said happily, holding her digital camera to her chest. "Let me take a picture!" She insisted suddenly, surprising Valerie into standing up as she started to take snapshots.

"Wait, Bulma no!"

"Oh come-on honey, you look so pretty in your outfit." Bulma insisted. Goten and Trunks watched in amusement, by the stairs as Bulma and Valerie went back and forth about the pictures.

"_I know, I know Josie, but trust me, you'll get use to them_." They heard Bra's voice assure with an aggravated sigh, from a distance.

"_Bra, I'm not use to these, the stairs are going to be dangerous!_" They heard Josie argue back, their voices getting closer as they approached the stairs.

"Oh don't be such a baby!" Bra scolded, annoyed, as she went down the stairs with an uncomfortable looking Josie behind her. Josie was coming down the stairs with her hair in loose curls and silver hoop earrings; wearing a dark velvet purple cotton dress with sleeves off the shoulders, a cinched waist, a semi loose skirt bottom that reached her mid thighs, and gray ankle boots.

"Josie, wow!" Goten said with a grin.

"Oh sweet God no." Josie exclaimed, eyes widening when she noticed, mortified, that the boys and Bulma were there. She immediately turned around to go back up. Trunks immediately sprang into action and took four steps at a time to get to where she was, grabbing her arm gently, turning her.

"Hey, come-on on, don't do that." He requested with a smile. "You look amazing." Trunks said sincerely. Josie scrunched up her face in embarrassment, very uncomfortable with the compliment, turning her head away as much as possible. "Come-on." He insisted, gently tugging at her arm, he took her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm, helping her down the stairs, realizing what Josie must have been worried about with the heels. They were no more than four inches high, but he never understood how any girl could eve wear the smallest of heels, so he took compassion and helped her down. He and Josie blinked when they saw a few flashes, and Trunks glared at his mother when he realized what she was doing. "Mother!" He scolded. "Will you quit that? She can hardly walk as it is, without you blinding her with that." He reasoned, confused when he got no response from his mother who only stared at him with tears in her eyes. "..Mom?" He asked confused, letting go of Josie to approach her. "Are you okay?" He asked. She immediately blinked, and shook her head to dismiss his worry away, wiping at her eyes.

"I'm just happy." She said with a sigh. "It's such a great day, my little girl is growing up, and I'm so glad that we're all going to get together today, and that you two girls are going to be a part of it." Bulma said happily, hugging Josie to her side tightly, making Josie grin.

The kids smiled back at her, moved by her sentiment. "…Now then." Bulma said, wiping the last tear away. "You kids all gather together, I want to take a picture before the chaos starts." She demanded, hearing a chorus of groans.

…

After a few pictures Bulma went outside to keep her guests company, seeing that Goku was already by the food table, clearly being scolded by Chichi who thought it was rude of him to so quickly dig into the food without even saying hi to anyone first. "But Chichi." Goku whined. "I said hi to Vegeta." He reasoned, pointing a thumb at Vegeta who was behind him but slowly moving away from the entire scene with a beer can in hand. Once his name was called, he didn't bother to hide the fact that he was retreating, and quickly left.

"Sorry about making you guys wait out here on your own." Bulma apologized, embarrassed. "You look lovely Chichi." She complimented, gesturing towards Chichi, who was wearing a lovely light pink kimono with green undertones, and two light yellow clips in her hair.

"Thank you Bulma, you do too." Bulma was wearing a blue sleeveless knee length dress. Bulma smiled in reply.

"Bulma, I'm allowed to eat these, right?" Goku asked confused, as he gestured to the table he was standing in front of. It looked like an open bar kind of deal, he didn't understand why Chichi wouldn't let him touch any of it.

"Sure Goku, go ahead, we're fully staffed tonight and anything you get from there will be replaced pretty soon after, so, have at it." Bulma said with a shrug. She knew her Saiyans, so she was prepared. Goku grinned.

"Thanks Bulma!" He said happily, before giving them his back and going back to the food.

"Aw, there she is." Chichi said with a smile. Bulma followed her line of sight and saw that she was staring at Bra who had just come out of the house with Josie and Valerie hesitantly behind them. "She looks wonderful, they grow up so fast, don't they?" Chichi asked rhetorically, with a forlorn sigh. "Those two her friends?" Chichi asked, finally noticing the nervous girls. Bulma nodded with a fond smile.

"Yeah." She said, grinning when she noticed that Josie had spotted Chichi, her eyes had widened and she'd desperately nudged Valerie and gestured towards them, confusing Chichi to no end.

"What are they looking at?" Chichi asked with some annoyance. She turned to Bulma with concern. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No Chi." She assured, patting her arm. "They're just…a little different, they may behave in a somewhat, unorthodox manner, just ignore it." Bulma requested. Chichi looked pretty confused at that, but shrugged, in agreement.

"Alright. I'm going to go say hi to Bra." She said to Bulma, before making her way towards the heiress. Bulma nervously held her arms, waiting to see how the girls would react to Chichi approaching. She noticed Chichi speak to Bra with the girls behind her, staring wide eyed from behind her. She noticed that Bra gave them a quick introduction and after a few moments, Chichi turned to walk away looking a little perplexed.

Bulma smiled, relieved that the girls had gone through that first introduction without incident, before cringing when Josie screamed - making Chichi jump and swirl around - alarmed.

"What's wrong?" She demanded, frightened. Trunks and Bra had immediately clamped their hands over Josie's mouth, smiling at Chichi.

"Hi kids!" Goku said cheerfully as he approached them.

"GOKU!" Valerie shouted happily, immediately clamping her arms around him in a hug.

"Uh! CHICHI!" Bulma said loudly, stepping in and taking Chichi's shoulders and turning her in the other direction. "Can you taste this sauce I made? I thought it was alright, but I'm a weak cook compared to you and would love your opinion on it, if it needs anything." Bulma rambled, trying desperately to distract Chichi from the odd two girls.

"Well…" Chichi hesitated, glancing behind her shoulder where Goten was trying to bodily remove Valerie from Goku.

"Please Chi? I don't think it tastes quite right." Bulma insisted.

"..Did you put enough spices in?" Chichi asked, following after her.

"Val!" Goten scolded. "Let go of him!" He gave one final yank of her midsection and plopped off, her back slamming into him. They fell to the ground with her on his lap. Josie noticed. She removed both Bra and Trunks hands off her mouth, and smirked down at Valerie and Goten.

"Bad Val…" Josie scolded, her voice lower, with a lazy smirk in place. Valerie and Goten finally realized the comprising position they were in and immediately scrambled up and away from each other.

"..I'm going to go grab something to eat." Goku said sheepishly, immediately leaving, always feeling awkward and terribly confused after any interaction with these girls. Valerie dusted herself off, hoping that no one saw anything they weren't supposed too with the darn skirt she was wearing, and watched Goku leave with a despairing expression.

"I scared him away, didn't I?" She asked miserably of the others, who shook their heads in an attempt to reassure her that that was not true.

"Yes." Josie nodded with a grin. "Yes, you did." She rubbed in, as she watched Goku retreat as well. Bra elbowed her, making her groan and rub her ribcage.

"Hey Bra!" They all turned and saw Eighteen, Krillin, Uub, and Marron, who was holding up a video camera that she was apparently recording with, as they approached them. Bra, Goten, and Trunks tensed visibly, trying hard to smile at their approaching friends, while keeping the corner of their eyes firmly on Valerie and Josie. Trunks had thought he'd heard Josie produce a noise that sounded a lot like 'Eep' but wasn't completely sure.

"Happy Birthday." Marron said happily, hugging her childhood friend tightly, and stepping aside to allow her parents to give her well wishes, recording it all.

"Thanks guys." Bra said sincerely. "Guys, I'd like you to meet two good friends of mine, this is Josie and Valerie." Bra said, indicating the two girls. When their eyes turned to them, Josie thought she'd pass out right then and there. She heard a thump and turned to the side, seeing Valerie had in fact, done that for her. She chuckled, surprised, one because she didn't think Val had been such huge fans of these guys to pass out so soon and two because-.

'Holy crap…" Josie mumbled, eyes wide, when she noticed what must have been the real reason for Valerie's fainting spell. Gohan was at the front door with his family.

"Is everything okay?" Krillin asked, confused.

"Sure, sure." Trunks said, waving dismissively, as he placed a hand firmly on Josie's exposed shoulder, pulling her back a little towards him. "They're just easily excitable, and shy…" Trunks said, unsure of how to explain this. Goten picked up Valerie - and smiling sheepishly - marched inside the house, waving at his brother happily, who watched him with puzzlement. Gohan slowly made his way towards Trunks and Josie.

"Hey, Trunks, who's Goten carrying?" Trunks pulled Josie's back into his chest, when he noticed her breathing become ragged.

"Shh." He insisted in her ear, keeping another arm around her. He raised his head to Gohan, giving him a smile.

"Our weather is just to all over the place for them right now, sensitive, they're from…Canada." He lied weakly, removing his suit jacket putting it on Josie's shoulders, ignoring the look Josie threw at him over her shoulder that clearly told him 'THAT'S the best you could come up with?' He shrugged helplessly at her, they hadn't talked over what story they would give their friends. Josie took a deep breath, trying hard to compose herself.

"Hi." Her currently high pitched voice greeted shakily, shaking hands with all of them. They all noticed that her form and hands were shaking but did not comment. Trunks rubbed her arms up and down.

"You okay?" He asked quietly, as he excused himself and Josie from the group and walked with her a few feet away, turning her to him to get a good look. Josie glanced behind them to where the others were. "Hey." He called, grabbing her by the chin lightly to turn her towards him. "Take it slow, ok?" He requested more seriously, "You're okay, lets take it only a few at a time, give yourself a few minutes between." He commanded softly.

Josie nodded. "Trunks, this is unbelievable." She whispered shakily. He smiled.

"You want to go inside for a few minutes?" She hesitated, looking at the others. "I promise, they'll still be here when you come back out." He assured with a grin. She nodded, letting him lead her inside where Bra and Goten talked, standing a few feet from the couch in the living room where Valerie lay with a blanket over her. Goten and Bra glanced at Josie and Trunks with amusement, as he led Josie to a couch and had her sit down.

"How's she doing?" Bra asked, smiling.

"She's doing surprisingly well, she hasn't-" Josie shot up throwing her hands in the air, waving them frantically, and jumping and running in place, making odd noises and screams to try to release all her pent up freaked out emotion overload. "…Screamed yet." He finished, amused. Josie chuckled darkly, as she sat back down putting his coat back on, leaning her head back on the couch.

"This must be turning out to be quite a birthday for you, Bra." She muttered with a smile, putting her hand over her eyes, making Bra laugh.

"It sure is." She agreed, still laughing.

…

Outside, Krillin and Gohan went to go ask Bulma if she knew what was going on, not fully convinced with Trunks story that the girls were just some weather sensitive Canadians.

"It's not even all that chilly out today." Gohan mumbled. "And if they're from Canada, why was she cold?" He asked his wife, as Krillin walked past them - who was following after Bulma.

"He's right Bulma, is anything going on that we should know about?" Krillin asked Bulma who squirmed nervously under all the questions. She glanced at the house, she'd go ahead and admit that they needed to tell them something now, but she could tell that the girls weren't ready for the onslaught of questions yet. And last she had seen Valerie was unconscious, she didn't want to unleash all this on them until they had a little bit of time to adjust to the new situation.

"Their just tired and confused guys, don't worry, everything's okay, have you guys said hi to everyone yet?" Bulma tried to change the subject. Pan's eyes narrowed as she moved to the side where Marron and Uub were talking with Giru flying behind her.

"So what do you think guys? You don't actually buy the story of these girls being from another country making them stare, shake, and pass out randomly from just looking at us, do you?" Pan asked disbelievingly, as Giru latched onto her shoulder. Marron and Uub shared a look.

"That is true.." Uub agreed reluctantly, he hated to speak ill or to disagree with someone, especially his friends, but they were acting suspicious.

"What do you think is going on?" Marron asked curiously.

"I'm not sure." Pan admitted. "But I intend to find out. You guys with me?" She asked with a grin.

"Giru Giru, bad idea! danger, Giru." Giru warned, receiving a elbow to his small robot form from Pan.

* * *

**Sneak Peek: **

"…_You had to go and try to touch the little emperor." Valerie said with a shake of her head. Josie elbowed her._

"_Quiet." She demanded_.

**End Sneak Peek.**

* * *

**Note: **Just to give you guys a heads up, yes, I realize Trunks comment about Canada and the weather did not make any sense. I just wanted to use Canada in this chapter somehow. I love that country and some of the coolest people I know are Canada. Long live Canamada! :D


	11. Chapter 11: Start the Show

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 11: **Start the Show

Pan, Marron, and Uub stealthily walked inside the house, sticking close to the walls, and creeping carefully towards every door.

"Giru-"

"Will you be quiet!" Pan demanded angrily, threateningly holding up a fist, making little Giru cover his head protectively, ducking behind Uub. "Come-on." Pan whispered, waving in the direction of the dining room, as they entered carefully, sticking by all the walls in there.

"…Pan, why are we being so careful? No one is in here, we would easily sense any coming-"

"Shh! Were being detectives right now, theirs no questioning your leader!" Pan argued fiercely in a whisper. Marron arched an eyebrow, amused.

"Our leader?" She asked, giggling.

"SHH!" Pan demanded, waving her hands in front of her face angrily, in demand of utter silence. The other two complied, as they approached the door to the living room, sticking to the door that led to the living room, hearing voices on the other side. They opened the door slightly, Uub peaking at the bottom of the opening, Marron above him, and Pan above her.

"Welcome back." Josie said to Valerie, amused, as she looked down at the girl who was blinking awake.

"What's going on?" She asked, confused. Josie shrugged, as she pulled back to allow Valerie to sit up.

"The usual, me and you making complete fools of ourselves in front of more of our favorite characters." Valerie groaned burying her face in her hands.

"Why do I pass out so damn much here?" Valerie demanded, annoyed. "I never once passed out back home!" Josie shrugged again, with a sigh sitting down in the coffee table in front of Valerie.

"I don't know, but we need to get it together to go back out there." Trunks nodded in agreement.

"Some of the others are arriving soon." He announced. Josie glanced up.

"Who?"

"I feel Dende and Mr. Popo." Josie sighed.

"We should be careful around them, shouldn't we? Do you think they know we're not from around here?" She asked them. Goten nodded.

"They know." He assured. They all turned to him.

"They do?" Valerie asked, surprised. "How do you know?"

"They told me, when I gave them the invitations for the party. Dende said that their were two life forces on the planet that didn't belong here." He said honestly. Josie and Valerie shared a look and frowned.

"Why can't we belong here?" Josie asked quietly, unhappily. Trunks shook his head, a little peeved at the description himself.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about." He said simply. "He's probably just as lost about this as we are…- guys, I sense Piccolo, Tien, Yamcha arriving pretty soon here too." Josie groaned, all thoughts of Dende's words forgotten, throwing herself on the couch beside Valerie.

"Why won't my heart slow down!" Josie pouted. "This whole day is just too much."

"Maybe we should have done this differently." Trunks thought aloud to Goten and Bra, with a bit of concern. "Maybe this is too much for them. We should have taken them all to meet everyone individually, that way they had time to adjust and we could explain it to them."

"I think it's too late for that." Goten said, pointing a thumb at the door leading to the kitchen area. Trunks looked over there and finally noticed what Goten was talking about. Josie sat up, looking over, unsure of what they were talking about, her look of confusion shared by Valerie and Bra. Trunks sighed going to the door and pushing it open, hearing the 'oof' from multiple teens, and the noise of their bodies hitting the floor.

"Well, hello guys." He said, smiling with his arms crossed. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"…H-how'd you know we were here?" Pan asked, shocked.

"Ki." Trunks answered easily, helping Pan and Marron up.

"We were suppressing it!" Pan insisted.

"Marron can't." Trunks reminded, Pan turned to Marron who blushed.

"I should get back to my parents." Marron mumbled, quickly scurrying away.

"I-I'd like to say hi to Goku, I haven't seen him for quite some time." Uub quietly said, with his head bowed in embarrassment as he quickly went away as well, leaving the defiant Pan standing there with Giru air crawling away.

"You're hiding something." She said confidently.

Trunks leaned on the doorway, looking like a portrait of boredom and confidence. "What are we hiding?" He dared.

"…" She frowned, unsure.

They'd certainly admitted some things in there while they were overhearing, but it was so confusing, and she had no idea what they were talking about. The girls were clearly foreign, that was for sure, but they made it seem like such a big deal and that was what she didn't understand. What was so important about where they came from? She was sure it wasn't Canada anyway… "I don't know." She admitted. "But I'm going to find out!" With that said, she turned around and left back where she came from.

"Fiery, isn't she?" Josie asked, coming up behind him. He nodded.

"That's our Pan." He said with a sigh of frustration. "So much for postponing this. Pan may not know what we were talking about it, but it's a safe bet that whatever she heard she's going to pass along to the others." Valerie shrugged as she stood up.

"It's fine, we've already got everyone here and we've already given them enough to be suspicious about, we might as well get this over with today, man." Josie nodded in agreement. Trunks nodded, studying the two.

"You two ready to try again?" He asked, holding the door open for them. Josie and Valerie passed by him, wordlessly, the two girls confidently striding to the backyard again,

looking absolutely ready to take on the world.

...But one look at the descending Piccolo, Dende, and Mr. Popo had Valerie's eyes rolling back again as she passed out, once more. Goten quickly caught her, and Josie, Trunks, and Bra froze as they'd, once more, unintentionally captured everyone's attention. Josie burst out laughing, trying hard to muffle it in her hands, caught off guard by Valerie passing out again. They all immediately went back in the house, creating a stir within the waiting guests outside.

"Did you see that?" Krillin asked 18 who nodded, a little surprised herself.

"Goku, what is going on?" Chichi asked suspiciously of her husband, who seemed completely relaxed and not at all surprised by all the strange happenings.

…

Josie continued to laugh as the others placed Valerie back on the couch.

"Bra…" Josie mumbled, between laughter, wiping tears away. Bra looked over at her with a grin.

"What?" She asked, amused.

"I…I'm so sorry." Josie tried desperately to apologize between fits of laughter. "We're screwing up your birthday." Bra shook that off.

"Not at all." She insisted. "Your making it more…interesting." She said with a grin. Josie snickered at that, with a nod.

"We should just let her get up when she feels ready, we need to go outside and start answering some questions." Trunks said, knowing fully well that his parents must be struggling out there. Josie sighed, laughter dying away, she nodded.

"Okay, let's go." She followed after the teens that led her outside to complete silence from the guests who stared at them. Bra, Trunks and Goten stared at Josie fearfully, unsure of how she'd react to all these eyes on her. She took a deep breath, and looked at them, blinking confused.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing, you ready?" Trunks smiled, a burst of pride shining through as she nodded and took off his coat, handing it to him before stepping forward to meet Bulma who placed a gentle hand on her arm.

"They're starting to ask questions." She admitted. Josie nodded.

"We figured as much." She assured. "Don't worry, we'll answer them soon enough." She assured, as she went around Bulma, palms itching with the desire to try something. She carefully went to Piccolo who was still standing off to the side with Dende and Mr. Popo on one side beside him, Gohan and Goku were on Piccolo's other side, talking to him. Their chatter came to a stop as soon as they noticed her approaching. She only had eyes for Piccolo, staring at his green skin curiously. She glanced momentarily at Dende and Mr. Popo, but returned her sights on Piccolo.

He was so tall and imposing._ He must be nearly seven feet tall!_ It was hard to crane her head up to stare at him so she settled for looking at the skin on his arms. Pink and green. She'd never seen anything like him, without realizing it, she reached out her hand and gently poked his arm, testing out the texture of him. She heard him make a noise of disapproval and immediately backed off a step.

"Haven't you ever heard it's impolite to stare, kid? or touch for that matter?" Piccolo asked roughly. Josie blinked, looking up at him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Piccolo." She said honestly, forgetting her manners. She was being rude. He startled upon hearing his name come out of her lips. How did this girl know who he was? He looked over at Dende, quietly asking him if this was one of those strange creatures that was not from this world? Dende nodded grimly. Josie glanced at Dende, realizing that they must be talking to each other telepathically. She smiled, turning around and going back to where the others waited with held breaths. "You all okay?" Josie asked amused, seeing how nervous they were.

"Yeah, we were just worried as to what you would do." Goten admitted. Josie grinned.

"Relax guys, it's not like I'd ever tackle and poke them endlessly. I'm not that ill mannered." She said, chuckling, remembering how out of control and rudely she'd behaved when landing on this strange planet when she caught sight of the Prince of all Saiyans for the very first time.

"Why can't I stop passing out!?" Valerie demanded again, angrily, as she stormed back outside, fists clenched at her sides. The others turned to her.

"You feeling better?" Josie asked, amused.

"No." Valerie snapped unhappily, crossing her arms and looking around. Her arms immediately uncrossed and her eyes widened a little, seeing Piccolo along with all the new faces.

"So much for using your invitations." Bra muttered, annoyed as Tien and Chiaotzu landed in their yard.

"Come-on." Josie said to Valerie grabbing her by her uninjured wrist and dragging her towards the newcomers. They stopped a few feet away, staring at them curiously. _Man they are tall…_ Valerie thought, tilting her head speculatively.

"..Uh….hello." Tien greeted, a little baffled. He'd forgotten that some of Bra's friends might be there and supposed he wasn't too surprised that the girls found all their appearances a little odd. Josie smiled up at him.

"Hi Mr. Tien." She replied back. "…Can I ask you a question?" She asked. Tien blinked, surprised that she'd known his name, he looked at the others for an explanation, but saw that they none were paying attention to him, he looked at Josie and nodded slowly.

"Alright.."

"…" Josie pointed up towards his face. "…Can I touch it?" He looked at her confused, feeling his face for whatever the heck she could be talking about, he ran his hand further up until it covered his closed third eye. His eyes widened, she couldn't possibly be referring to that? Valerie rolled her eyes and slapped Josie's hand down, glaring at her.

"Dude! Rude!" She scolded. Josie sighed, nodding.

"Sorry." She mumbled, looking down in shame, stopping when her eyes caught sight of Chiaotzu. Her smile came back. "Val.." Josie started, whispering. Val looked over. "Look at 'im" Josie said, grinning, nodding towards Chiaotzu. "Isn't he so friggin kawaii?" Josie asked, squealing. Valerie chuckled.

"You are so weird man." She said with a shake of her head.

"Come-on, I dare you to tell me he isn't." Josie challenged happily. Chiaotzu and the others overheard. Chiaotzu pulled down Tien's cape a bit, confused.

"Tien..?" He asked, confused.

"I just wanna squeeze him." Josie squeaked, arms itching to wrap around the tiny little emperor. Valerie immediately put an arm out to stop her.

"You definitely shouldn't." She advised. Josie sighed, staring longingly at the confused Chiaotzu.

"I won't." She assured, looking away to help fight the temptation, she noticed some activity around the house, and excused herself, followed by Valerie. They made their way to the front of the house where Master Roshi and Oolong were coming in.

"Where did you leave the invitation, old man?" Oolong demanded, frustrated as he and Master Roshi searched their pockets for the missing invite.

"Let them in." Josie assured the security guard, who glanced over and nodded, opening the gate. Roshi and Oolong came in.

"Thank you! That would have- oooh hello there." Roshi started again, drawing out the greeting, in an attempt to sound flirtatious and seductive, something, which clearly did not work at all. Josie crossed her arms and crinkled her nose in disgust looking over at Valerie who was very much having the same reaction.

"I'm Josie." Josie started cautiously.. "And this," She indicated Valerie with a thumb. "Is Valerie." Oolong licked his palm and slicked back his invisible hair, making the girls cringe back.

"Well." Master Roshi adjusted the lapels of his suit, grinning. "You can call me-"

"A pervert." Josie declared with a smile. Roshi and Oolong shared an uneasy glance, realizing at that moment that the girls were savvy to their ways and quickly excused themselves, going around them to get into the party. Josie and Valerie followed them with their eyes, Josie's arms still crossed.

"He never changes, does he?" She asked, amused.

"Not at all." Valerie agreed.

"VAL! JOSIE!" Bra shouted, trying to grab their attention from the back of the house. The two girls quickly made their way to her where they noticed that their were a lot of loud voices in the back. They slowed to a stop before coming into the backyard, seeing everyone around Goku, Piccolo, and Dende.

"What do you mean they're entities from another dimension?" Krillin asked Dende, confused. "Are they like Future Trunks?"

"What's going on?" Valerie asked Bra quietly, glad that they weren't noticed yet.

"Some of them have been talking about you and Josie's odd behavior and they're getting suspicious." Bra explained, uncomfortably. "Mom got the boys inside the house, try to go in there unnoticed, we might have to get you guys out of here." Valerie nodded, noticing Trunks coming out slowly from the house, looking ready for his next move. "Hey Trunks, you and Goten ready?" Bra asked. He nodded, looking around, confused.

"Where's-"

"-Josie!" Bra quickly scolded, eyes wide when she noticed Josie had gotten away from them and was circling around the others, quietly sneaking around the tall ones- trying to get back to Chiaotzu.

She just found that little guy too friggin cute and she needed to hug him, at least once.

"Oh no.." Valerie gawked, hand to her mouth when she finally caught sight of her. Trunks quickly went past them, attempting to weave through the people as quickly as possible, grabbing Josie around the waist just as she reached between Piccolo and Tien. He immediately pulled her back to him, stopping when he noticed the others had caught sight of them. Josie blinked up at them, finally realizing how bad of an idea this was, she kept her hand on Trunks arm limply, and raised the other one hesitantly.

"Hi.." She mumbled, embarrassed.

"Gotta go!" Trunks said, before turning tail, about to fly off - surprised when Piccolo fazed in front of him. Josie's eyes widened in amazement.

"Holy crap." She gasped, hands to her mouth.

"Trunks, we'd like to ask your friend here some questions." Piccolo explained. Trunks looked down at Josie who nodded, knocking her fist lightly on his forearm to get him to let go. He did so and she made a show of moving slowly towards Valerie. She held her hands up to indicate that she had no scheme or trick, before she leaned towards her friend.

"Any ideas?" She asked in a whisper covered by the back of her hand.

"…You had to go and try to touch the little emperor." Valerie scolded with a shake of her head. Josie elbowed her.

"Quiet." She demanded. She noticed Bulma, Trunks, and Goten come to stand by them, while the others approached. "I've got an idea!" Josie declared, happily.

"What?" Bra asked. Josie thought a minute, trying to figure out the details that her plan would require.

"…Bulma." Josie called, turning to the older woman. "Do you have a projector?" Bulma looked at her with some confusion, but nodded.

"I do." She confirmed. Josie nodded in reply, satisfied.

She turned to the others, "Hi guys. I'm Josie." She said with a slight wave. "I'm sure you've all heard half-baked rumors of who and what we are. We'll clear it up for you guys as best we can in a little while, just keep eating and hanging and give me fifteen minutes or so to prepare." Josie requested. "After that, I promise, we'll answer all your questions." She assured with a slight smile. She turned to Valerie. "Do you know anything about power point?"

"No." Valerie said, disinterested. Josie snorted - not believing her, she grabbed Valerie's wrist and pulled her back towards the house, requesting that Goten and Trunks followed too.

"Follow them Giru." Pan demanded in a whisper, pushing the little scared robot towards the house. He did as he was told nervously, going past the kitchen and dinning room, into the living room where Josie was talking to the others.

"Do you know where your mom has her projector?" Josie asked Trunks who nodded. "Good, can you bring that down please? Goten check how many people are outside, and Val, get my laptop from upstairs in my room, will you?" She asked. Valerie rolled her eyes, going to do as she was told, while the others disappeared to do their assignments as well. Josie turned and stopped, blinking, when she saw the little robot hovering in the air. She looked it up and down curiously, with very little knowledge of GT she had only seen a few pictures of this little robot and only knew that it had gone on an adventure with Goku, Trunks, and Pan at some point. "Hello there.." Josie said hesitantly. Giru froze at the sudden attention, sweat dropping, nervously.

"Hi." He said quickly, with a hand wave.

"What's your name?" Josie asked, taking a slow step towards it.

"I am T2006." He informed. Josie blinked at that.

"Wow. That's kind of long."

"Can call Giru. Giru. Giru." Josie nodded, reaching out a hand.

"Nice to meet you, Giru." She said sociably. He reached out a tiny hand and shook hers.

"Strange molecular levels, Giru. Different, Giru." Josie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." She said waving off the comment. "We're freaks, I get it." She looked up when Valerie was coming back down the stairs and took the laptop from her, setting up the table between the two. Goten entered a few seconds later and he as well as Valerie started adding chairs in the living room trying to make it as comfortable as possible with the amounts of chairs they needed to put in there.

"Why are we doing this?" Goten asked, confused, as he finished setting up his chairs.

"Why ARE we doing this, baka?" Valerie reiterated the question to Josie, conversationally. Josie adjusted her laptop, while Trunks fiddled with setting up the projector. Josie looked up at them, distracted.

"We can explain it to them as best we can, and answer questions they have, but we didn't come into this world empty handed. We have pictures at least, I have hundreds saved onto my laptop." She said gesturing towards it. "Maybe that'll help convince them, and. "She shrugged with a smile. "I thought I'd be nice to give them a small trip down memory lane." Goten and Trunks shared an uneasy look between them, knowing fully well that a lot of things down memory lane could possibly involve them. They use to be wild, rebellious kids...who constantly took off their pants.

Josie glanced at their nervous expressions they were sharing and grinned. "What's up guys?" She asked, amused.

"…You don't…." Trunks fidgeted uncomfortable from one foot to another. "You don't have any embarrassing pictures of us, do you?" He asked, unhappily. Josie lifted her head, smile widening, quickly arching her eyebrows up twice suggestively.

"I just might." She said vaguely. He groaned, rubbing his face with a hand. Josie patted his shoulder.

"Maybe you guys should go eat something before the others finish off the food back there." She recommended, moving her hair out of her way and crouching down to finish setting up the projector herself. Trunks watched her for a minute, before signaling Goten for them to leave. Josie took a seat on the table in the back of the room a few feet from the door that led to the dinning area. She didn't even notice when Giru disappeared.

In the backyard Giru flew quickly to where Pan talked with Marron and Majuub.

"Giru Giru!" He quickly called, as he flew straight into Pan who held back her temper.

"WATCH IT!" She shouted, unable quite to hold it all in, thinking the little robot should be grateful that the outburst of abuse had not been physical.

"Pan! Danger!" Giru said, backing up quickly. Pan rolled her eyes.

"There's no time for that Giru! What did you find out?" She demanded with a hand on her hip, as Marron and Uub inched closer, quite curious themselves.

"Girl called Josie." Giru stated proudly. Pan's eyes narrowed.

"Is that ALL you found out Giru? We already knew that! She told us herself!" She shouted, frustrated.

"…Giru!" Giru said helplessly. "Josie mention show." He said quickly, trying to calm down Pan's fury before it started up again. Pan eyed him curiously.

"A show?" She asked, looking over at Valerie who was sitting at a table with Goku and a lot of the Z fighters around her. The only ones who truly looked at ease with her presence were Goku, Goten and Trunks.

"I can't eat anymore…" Valerie groaned, holding her stomach, as Goku inched her plate closer to her, looking absolutely horrified.

"But you've hardly eaten a bite!" He said, astounded. "Do they not eat where you come from?" He asked. Valerie glanced at the others after that statement, a little peeved that her hero so casually continued to talk about her being an alien.

"We do, just." She shrugged. "Not as much as you guys."

"EXCUSE ME." The tables that littered the backyard, filled with Z Fighters and friends all ceased conversation slowly and turned their attention to the girl in the purple dress who was requested their attention from above a chair near a refreshment table. She smiled.

"Hi. Me again. If you all still have questions that you want answered." She started, feeling something beside her, she looked down and over and saw Bulma standing beside her. She felt a surge of love for the older woman and her smile widened, a little more confidently. "Then you call all come into the living room inside, we'll be more than happy," She looked at Valerie meaningfully, indicating she should get up. "To answer your questions as best we can." She finished up. Bulma helped her down, and they all silently started to make their way inside, leaving food behind, and a confused Goku.

"…." He saw that no one was returning, and frowned. "Aw come-on guys." He called after them, mouth full of chicken. "Can't this wait till we're done eating?" He asked the empty backyard. He sighed unhappily, looking around and after a beat, he shrugged, and reached over to Valerie's plate taking her steak.

…

Inside the house, loud chattered filled the living room as everyone started to file in and as comfortably as possible settled into the pretty large living room. Josie overlooked it all, satisfied when they'd all found somewhere to make themselves comfortable, still noticing that Piccolo and Vegeta stood around the side, refusing to sit down. Bulma, Bra, Goten, Trunks, and Valerie stood with Josie waiting to get their attention.

"Everybody." Bulma started. They heard lots of shushing sounds as they all tried to quiet down. Once it was relatively silent, Bulma nervously glanced at the girls and started. "I'm really not sure how to make this sound believable at all, so I'm just going to tell you all the truth and let you all adjust to it yourselves. Josie and Valerie are…" She struggled for the right word, putting an arm around either of their shoulders to bring them closer to her. "Human." She cleared up right from the start. "But they… aren't from this world, or this dimension from that matter." She frowned when she noticed the small murmurs starting up already. "I guess, for our understanding, it's a safe bet to call them aliens. They have their own world and from what they tell me it is quite similar to ours, except that they look different there, and that they…" she hesitated again. "Can see into our world." She finished up.

"Well how the heck does that work?" Krillin asked, confused. Bulma looked to the girls for help answering the question, and just as Josie opened her mouth to take a shot at explaining, Vegeta stepped forward off the wall.

"They watch us on a Television screen for entertainment purposes. They've seen our battles and seen our losses and laughed with amusement." He summarized. Josie felt Bulma's arm tighten around her shoulder, protectively, and noticed Trunks and Goten slowly move in front of them. She sighed, looking down at the ground, disappointed that Vegeta would say that still after all this time.

"It's not like that." Trunks defended, adamantly. "They're not like that, guys. Ever since I was a kid I heard you guys talk about how unbelievable it was that no one knew what you all did for the world so many times over. These people do. In their world, we're all heroes. And…I have nothing else, help anyone?" Trunks whispered the last part to the group he was huddled with at the moment.

"No, but thank you Trunks." Josie whispered back, putting a hand in the middle of his back, truly grateful. He simply smiled back.

"I got more." He whispered, he turned back to their audience. "And I don't know about you guys, but I personally, would love to have all those fans of people who admire us the way these two girls do." Josie nodded in agreement.

"If you guys were in our world you'd have thousands of fans constantly following you. For the most part, our humans are just like your own, except for a few small differences." She said clicking through her laptop to look for a picture. She found one of the cast of a popular TV show back home and the others were immediately speechless at the different creatures. They were all beautiful (as most TV personalities tend to be) but they looked so...different.

"…That's what they look like?" Gohan asked, amazed, as he stared at the picture. Josie nodded.

"That's home." She verified. She looked down and changed the picture, immediately one appearing on the wall where the TV was of a man dressed in a Goku outfit for a convention of some kind, signing autographs.

"Oh wow, look at that." Goku laughed, walking in at that exact moment, embarrassed, as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You're very popular back home, Goku." Valerie put in, honestly. "And you've got millions of fans from places all over the world." She said. "And they all love you…in different ways." She said with a smile, sharing a look with Josie who giggled.

"For example, we have a friend back home named Esmeralda, who doesn't really watch you all, but she knows about you guys and thinks Trunks is hot." Josie explained from behind Trunks, unable to see his face but knowing he was blushing deep red when she saw the blush on the back of his neck. "And I have another friend named Susy, who's also not that much of a fan, but she's completely in love with Gohan." Gohan's eyes widened at that, an he immediately looked at his wife beside him who glared.

"Sorry." Josie mumbled with a chuckle, as she gestured for Trunks to move to the side a little so he could talk more freely with the others. "We don't have control over how the other people in our world see you. Some are just casual fans, some obsessive, some have even designated sex symbols out of some of you guys." She noticed right away the immediate peak of interest in some of the male audience.

"Like who?" Yamcha asked, grinning, as he moved his hair back.

"I'm pretty sure most polls will usually read that the male sex symbol is Vegeta." Josie stated, looking to Valerie for confirmation, receiving a nod. Vegeta nearly choked on his saliva, he had been smirking, ready to make fun of the fool who they called and had not been prepared to be the one. He unwillingly blushed, while everyone broke out in hysterics. Bulma breathed a small sigh of relief, smiling a little when she noticed some of the tension in the room dissipating. For the most part everyone seemed to be relaxing and becoming more curious than concerned, the same transition that she quickly made when she met these two. The only one that seemed still stiff in the room was the mistrusting Piccolo.

"Is their someone who comes a close second?" Yamcha asked, miserably.

"…" Josie thought about it. "I'd probably say Mirai Trunks." She answered. Trunks scoffed, turning around.

"Your kidding me? Why him? He's me for crying out loud!" Josie smiled at his outrage.

"Not exactly. there are some subtle and not so subtle differences between you two. Physically, yes, for the most part, you do look alike, but he's got something about him." She said with a grin. "Maybe it's the tan, the slightly deeper more haunted blue eyes, or maybe just his shy, quiet, sweet, and sometimes intense personality." She shrugged. "Whatever it is, chicks back home totally dig that guy. It's probably the tough, 'seen horrible things in my time' vibe that he and your dad give off." She shrugged again.

"What about you?" Goten asked with a playful smile. "Which of the two Trunks, do you prefer?" He asked. Josie's eyes widened a little, taken back by the question.

"…I couldn't say." She answered, trying to shrug again, the shrug not looking as natural and honest as before. Trunks looked away, annoyed with the whole topic already and Goten sobered up, realizing, like Trunks, what her answer probably was and regretting having asked. Josie bit her lip uncomfortably, and cleared her throat.

"Anyway, for the women, I think it's Bulma, but I'm not one hundred percent sure on that." Josie said.

"…Do you two have any favorites?" Videl asked curiously, Josie and Valerie immediately looked at each other, surprised.

"I…uh." Josie cleared her throat, smiling, embarrassed. "I think we'd both rather not say." Valerie nodded in agreement.

"Well, what did we come here to see?" Pan asked impatiently, drumming her fingers on her lap, looking at the projector.

"Pan." Gohan scolded.

"I'm sorry Papa, but we've just been told that these two perfectly normal looking human girls are from another dimension entirely, not related at all to our own and more than that, that they've watched us our entire lives? We're supposed to just believe that without any proof?" The others looked at the girls, in silent agreement with the outspoken young girl. Josie scratched the side of her head and Valerie nudged her.

"Come-on man, start the show!" Valerie hissed, a little intimidated by the large group of z fighters murmuring once more amongst themselves. Josie pursed her lips, with a light frown, nodding, as she went to work on her laptop to start the show.

_Oh no…oh no. _Josie clicked once and then twice on her laptop realizing that her touchpad wasn't receptive, her eyes widened. _You can't possibly choose THIS precise moment to freeze on me, for the love of all the hot dogs in the world.. _Josie and Valerie glanced around nervously noticing the rising voices.

"_I mean are we really supposed to believe that?" _Pan asked her parents, throwing her arms wildly around.

"_She does have a point, Gohan, do we know if they're safe?" _Videl asked her husband.

"_Aw, come-on Videl they're just girls-"_

"_I don't know 18, what do you think?" _Krillin asked his wife who looked the other way looking completely uninterested.

"_As long as they don't bother me, I couldn't care less." _18 said honestly.

"_They're bad news I tell you!" _Yajirobe shouted to Roshi nearby. _"Look at their beady eyes! Look how they bead!" _

"_What does that even mean?" Uub asked, confused. _

" Josie?" Trunks asked, concerned, gently putting his hand on Josie's shoulder, making her jump, startled.

"Hot dogs!" She shouted. He blinked, pulling his hand back. Josie blinked, looking up at Trunks, then finally at the incredibly quiet group of people who now stared at her in surprise. Josie felt the red rush into her cheeks, shaking her head in an attempt to will the blush away when she froze, staring beyond them all. Everyone else looked at each other in confusion at the odd girl's behavior and finally realized she was staring at something, they slowly each started to turn their head to look in that direction, gasping at what they saw.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

"_You remember that thing we talked about the other day?" Josie asked quietly._

"_What thing?" Valerie asked, confused. _

"_That thing, you know." Josie repeated with a little more emphasis on thing._

"_Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about." Josie rolled her eyes. _

"_You know! With you and a certain someone else of the opposite sex!" She insisted._

**End Sneak Peek:**

* * *

**Note**: Reviews are slowing down, which makes me sad :( Had I not gotten a last review tonight a little while ago, I probably wouldn't even be updating right now. Seriously guys, reviews motivate like nothing else! Hope you're all having a good week! ja ne! Princess geta.


	12. Chapter 12: The Beginning

**Disclaimer: **Do not own.

**Note: **I keep thinking, gosh, this Wednesday, I'm not going to be able to do it. And this is a little late, it's technically almost Thursday, but here it is. Thank you so much to .Hitachiinx3 and Thomas Drovin for consistently on every chapter submitting reviews, you guys are my small pieces of sunshine :D

And a huge thanks to Kit Cloud the Time Ghost, way too many times I've considered letting go of this story exactly because of the reasons you've stated (it's way too overdone) but I love my two goofy, flawed girls and after all these years, I'm still not done helping them grow. I want to see what happens to them too.

Animefreak8810, and Panda-chan 3 thank you guys!

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 12**: The beginning.

In center of the furthest wall from Josie, the projector had an image up of Goku, Yamcha, Chichi, Puar, Oolong, Bulma, and a smiling purple dragon high up in the clouds. A 12 year old Goku sitting atop nimbus happily with his hands on his ankles; wearing a blu gi with a white belt, red wrist bands and his power pole tied to his back. A few feet behind him Yamcha is sitting at the tail of the dragon looking serious with his arms crossed and his old bandit outfit from the dragon ball series, and his long unruly hair. A little ways in front of him is the miniature Chichi with her dragon ball pink and blue outfit, hanging onto the dragon, looking over at Goku fondly. Puar right in front of her, barely visible, hanging on dearly to the dragon, Bulma in front on her standing on the dragon, happily, hands grabbing onto the held up neck of the dragon, wearing a red dress with a mini skirt and her old braided do, looking back towards Yamcha. Oolong at the front, standing on the head of the dragon and holding onto the horns, looking down at it while the dragon stares to the side at Goku.

"….Wow." Krillin mumbled, surprised. "Did….Did that ever happen?" He asked, looking over at Goku who stared at the picture with a smile. Bulma gasped lightly, bringing her now clasped hands to her mouth, eyes shining.

"Oh gosh.." She mumbled. Trunks looked over at his mom, then back at the picture, thoroughly surprised at the entire silence that filled the room. He looked down at Josie who exhaled in a sigh, thankful that her stupid machine had finally worked.

"…So this…" Chichi gulped, shaking her head, as she stood up in her spot on the arm of one of the couches beside Goku. "But this never happened." She said indicating the screen with her thumb. Josie nodded.

"Just pictures, the people who…worked on you guys drew." She said carefully, stopping herself from saying '_the people who made you_'. "They make these sometimes."

"They're really in charge of us over there?" Tien asked, amazed.

"It's hard to say." Valerie answered, scratching her cheek with her index finger. "Since coming here, things have been different already - and it's not likely because of them, it's hard to believe that you'd all have no control whatsoever over your lives. Things are different. It's hard to guess who is really in charge at this point." She explained. They heard the low murmurs start up again.

"…Vegeta tested us a while back." Valerie said. "…If you guys want to, you can ask us questions too." Krillin raised his hand, smiling.

"Yes Krillin?" Josie asked, tilting her head, he blinked, taken aback and chuckled rubbing the back of his head.

"Well…that answers my question." He said, sheepishly. "I've got another one." He said after the little bursts of laughter had died back down. "Where did I meet Goku?" He asked.

"Master Roshi's." Valerie answered, giving Goten a nod in thanks when he quietly placed a stool beside Josie's chair so she could sit as well.

"How did Krillin get Roshi to accept him as a student?" Yamcha asked curiously, sitting cross legged on the ground near his friend with Puar on his lap. Josie wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Nudie magazines." She said, cringing when she heard Krillin get a smack to the back of his head by his wife, figuring that had to hurt.

"How long did it take me to learn the Kamehameha wave?" Roshi asked, thoughtfully, rubbing his beard.

"50 years." Josie said, not bothering to look up as she scrolled through the pictures looking for a good one to post next.

"What about Goku?" Roshi followed up.

"One day." Valerie answered, seeing through the corner of her eye Josie raising an index finger to indicate that amount as well, nodding when Valerie answered.

"How long did it take for Gotenks to be formed?" Piccolo asked gruffly, surprising both the girls. He'd been to the far side of them against the wall watching the whole display, and the two hadn't expected to hear a peep from him throughout the evening. Valerie looked at Josie questioningly, not having seen that far in the series.

"..Less than a day." Josie answered.

"Who is Gotenks?" Chichi added.

"Trunks and Goten." Valerie replied.

"Who taught them fusion?" Uub asked quietly.

"First Goku, then when he had to go, Piccolo took over their training." Josie answered.

"Who defeated Freeza the first time?" Yamcha asked.

"Goku." Valerie answered proudly.

"Goku's father?" Piccolo asked.

"Bardock." Josie said.

"Brother?" Krillin asked.

"Radditz." Valerie said, looking over at what Josie was doing, both girl's not too interested in the questioning.

"I give in. I believe you." Krilin said, frustrated, as he threw his hands up in the air.

"I'm with you man." Yamcha said laughing.

"Hey girls, I've got a question." Oolong said grinning. "Did Yamcha ever cheat on Bulma?" Bulma stopped staring at the picture, long enough to glare murderously at Yamcha, waiting for the answer. Yamcha's eyes widened as he looked at the girl's. Josie and Valerie shared a look.

"…I'm not sure." Josie said honestly. "They never clarified. It was definitely shown that he had a lot of women followers and that he did urge them on, but I'm not sure that he ever cheated." Josie said, realizing Yamcha's predicament. She'd never really been a fan per say, but she didn't want to get the guy in trouble either.

"Can you tell us anything about Vegeta's past?" Chichi asked curiously, crossing her arms as she glanced at the stoic Saiyan Prince. Josie glanced at him.

"Yes." She said honestly. "But I'd rather not, if you don't mind." She said back as politely as possible.

"Aw come-on-"

"OH LOOK IT'S A PICTURE OF GOKU AND PICCOLO DRIVING!" Josie said quickly, trying to distract anyone from that line of questioning before Vegeta killed her. She'd managed to avoid pissing him off thoroughly for the last few days, she didn't want to ruin her streak of good luck now. The others immediately looked to the wall where there was now a picture of Goku and Piccolo driving their own vehicles with instructors, both wearing pretty ridiculous clothing. Goku in some hawaiin shirt and Piccolo in some loud colorful wardrobe that apparently belonged to Goku.

"Aw, look." Chichi said happily, having been easily distracted from her earlier inquiries. "It's when you and Piccolo learned to drive…and were crashing into- did you two really do all of that?" Chichi asked, tilting her head when she noticed the destruction around the two vehicles. Goku laughed good humouredly while Piccolo sulked in the corner, blushing bright purple at the memories.

…

Three hours easily passed with everyone talking, shouting, and laughing over pictures that were presented to them. Most of them had forgotten their earlier hesitation over the two girls and mainly now focused on the fact that whoever they were, they clearly cared about them and carried a lot of memories along with them of their earlier years, as if they had been there sharing them right alongside them.

"Aw come-on Josie!" Krillin's voice drifted, laughing joyously. "Put on some more!"

"Some other time!" Josie shouted back coming into a room, slamming herself against the door to stop anyone else from coming in. She stopped when she felt the stares on her and immediately smiled at the teens strewn about the room. The adults and teenagers had remained in the main living room for quite some time reminiscing for two hours before the majority of the teens got fed up with all the parent and baby pictures and made their exit.

Trunks, Goten, Bra, Uub, Marron, Pan, and Valerie were now playing cards and talking about their own memories and adventures without their parents. Josie hadn't been able to escape because the pictures were on her laptop and they needed her help navigating through it. Not to mention their were pictures of certain people in this world that shouldn't be seen.

"Josie?" Goten asked, confused. Josie grinned.

"Hi." She said embarrassed, giving them a light wave.

"You managed to get away man?" Valerie asked, amused, looking over from her spot where she was sitting Indian style on the floor. Everyone was mainly playing cards now on the floor. Josie sighed, nodding, as she stepped away from the door, plopping herself on the nearest couch, looking around the room.

"So what is this place?" She asked, seeing that their were really no TV's or electronics in this room. Nothing but couches, a coffee table with magazines strewn about, and some pictures along with plants. Bra looked around.

"Sitting room." She said with a shrug. "We have a few of these around the place, most we don't use really." Bra said with disinterest. Josie laughed, shaking her head at the idea. It would be like them to have rooms with absolutely no real purpose.

"You want to play?" Trunks asked her, holding up his cards, noticing immediately her relaxed posture, as she sat at the far end of the couch, her elbow on the arm of the couch with her head resting on the her open hand. She glanced at him, sleepily, shaking her head slowly.

"I'm alright." She said quietly with a smile. He nodded, going back to the game with the others for the next hour.

"Shh!" Uub whispered to the others, they all looked up confused. Trunks had just been beaten in a game of poker by his younger sister and was now grumpily handing over all his allowance for last month, when they were quieted down. Uub gestured behind them, they looked and just noticed Josie was asleep in the same position except for her head now resting on her left arm placed upon the arm of the couch.

"Oops." Goten chuckled, standing up and setting the cards down. "Should I take her to her room?" He offered, as he made his way to her. Trunks shook his head.

"Naw, don't bother, I'll do it. I'm tired of being spanked in this stupid game by my younger sister."

"Don't hate." Bra bit back, grinning.

"I'm still convinced your cheating, little brat." Trunks said rolling his eyes, as he pushed himself up as Goten came back and took his place, failing to see Bra sticking her tongue out at him childly. Trunks leaned down a little, gently hooking his hands underneath Josie starting to pull her up when her eyes popped open and she blinked up at him with confusion, silently staring. Trunks laughed as he settled her in his arms.

"You weren't supposed to wake up." He said, grinning. She smiled sleepily.

"Not one of those girls that won't wake up when you lift them - no matter how gently, who could possibly not notice?" He chuckled. "Where are we going?" She asked sleepily, looking around.

"Well. I was going to take you to your room so you could sleep, but you seem pretty awake now." He explained. She nodded in agreement nudging him a little to put her down. She noted most of the others looking at her with amusement and chuckled.

"'Morning." She said, stopping mid-wave, leaning back a little where Trunks still was behind her. "…Is it morning?" She asked him quietly. He shook his head. "Er, oh." She mumbled. She looked once more around the room noting Pan and Marron were both getting quite sleepy, Giru was already out on Pan's back, Uub was sitting and smiling, quite awake, Bra was grabbing her earnings from the middle of the floor, happily, and Goten alongside Valerie were quietly talking amongst themselves. Josie tilted her head at that last observation, remembering something. "Val." She called quickly. Valerie glanced over.

"'Sup, man?" She asked casually.

"Can we talk in private for a sec?" she asked, smiling. Valerie eyed her, a little wary now. She nodded slowly, as she got up and followed Josie to a corner of the room. Josie glanced over Josie's shoulder realizing that some of the people in the room probably had great hearing so she'd have to keep it short and vague.

"What man?" Valerie asked, concerned now of what Josie was possibly thinking. She looked pretty determined and joyous for a girl that had been asleep not two minutes ago. How could she wake up and be so ready to scheme so quickly?

"You remember that thing we talked about the other day?" Josie asked quietly.

"What thing?" Valerie asked, confused.

"That thing, you _know_." Josie repeated with a little more emphasis on thing.

"Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about." Josie rolled her eyes.

"You know! With you and a certain someone else of the opposite sex!" She insisted. "That is in this room." Josie said between teeth, trying very hard to say that as quietly as possible. Valerie's eyes widened in understanding and Josie sighed with content, glad to have finally gotten through to the girl.

"You've got to be kidding me.." Valerie said with disbelief, shaking her head slowly. Josie grinned.

"Not at all Val-chan." She said gesturing back to the others.

"Tonight? Why tonight? Come-on man, can't this wait for-" Josie shook her head.

"Theirs always going to be an excuse as to why it's not a good time to do it. Come-on, you can't tell me you're not even a little curious as to what it would be like to-"

"Fine!" Valerie interrupted. "I need a second." Valerie muttered, angrily, as she left the room. Josie watched her go with some amusement, looking back at the others who were giving her weird looks.

"What was that all about?" Bra asked. Josie merely smiled, and uncrossed her arms as she got closer to them.

"You, and you." She said pointing to Goten, then to Trunks. "Follow me." She instructed with a smile, gesturing for them to follow as she made her way out the door where Valerie was thumping her head against the wall. "Val, that's going to mess up your hair." Josie said jokingly, knowing fully well that Valerie couldn't possibly care less. Valerie refused to stop what she was doing and merely pulled up a hand and flipped her off. The boys soon caught up and Josie quickly took Valerie's hand lowering the offensive gesture and pulled Valerie away from the wall, smiling at the boys. She held Valerie by the wrist and quickly reached for Goten pulling at them to follow her down the hallway. She opened up a random room and quickly nudged them in, closing it and smiling at Trunks who merely scratched his head with an index finger, unbelievably confused.

Josie had pushed Valerie and Goten into a food storage room, Valerie realized when Goten had finally found the light bulb switch over their heads. They had already bumped into each other twice and were mumbling unhappily fishing around for that switch. Goten's eyes widened when he saw where they were.

"Oooh, look at all this stuff!" He said happily, looking through the shelves of canned foods and stored up goods. "Chips, and candy, and ooh chocolate covered raisins!" He groaned happily reaching for some, quickly opening them and digging in until his cheeks were full. He reached in and offered her a handful. "'Want sum?" He offered, semi politely. She blinked, shaking her head quickly. He shrugged and threw a couple dozen more into his mouth.

Outside the room Trunks had questioned Josie as to why he'd shoved Goten and Valerie into a room but the only thing she'd done was carefully kneel on the ground and press her ear into the door, trying hard to listen and shushing him whenever he spoke up again.

"But Josie-"

"Shh!" she demanded, reaching up for him and grabbing him by his tie and tugging for him to kneel as well. He came down on his knees, staring at her, confused. "Help me hear." She whispered, tapping at the door. He finally understood what she as doing and pressed his ear into the door, amused at how focused she was and how she failed to notice how physically close they were at this moment. "Well?" She asked.

"Uh…" He narrowed his eyes, focusing more now on what was going on the other side of the door and pulled away, a little confused, before pressing his ear again. Josie frowned at that. What could he be hearing?

"What are they saying?" She demanded. He held up a hand to get her to quiet down.

"…They're talking about chocolate covered raisins." He explained. Her eyes widened.

"What?" She dug her ear further in, wishing she had his abilities. "That doesn't even make sense!" Trunks shrugged, as he continued listening.

"Not that complicated, chocolate covered raisins are pretty darn good." He agreed with Goten. Josie rolled her eyes.

Inside the small storage room Valerie heard the thump outside and rolled her eyes. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and she was desperately looking for anything to distract her from it, annoyance was something that she was good with, and at this present moment in time she was pretty damn annoyed with Josie. And since she was absolutely one hundred percent sure that Josie was currently outside of the door, trying her best to listen to what she and Goten were saying, she thought this was an appropriate time for payback. She smoothly maneuvered herself toward the door, and abruptly slammed her foot on the door, knowing it wouldn't break; merely doing it because she knew how loud it would sound on the door side, hoping that it would possibly knock Josie back or something. She smiled, taking a little bit of comfort in that thought. Goten glanced over from where he was consuming some chips.

"What was that?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing, I saw a bug." She said simply, with a smile.

…

"Son of a bitc-" Trunks covered Josie's mouth as Bra passed by with an armful of her earnings. He looked at his sister, sheepishly, wondering what the heck she was must be thinking at this odd sight of him and Josie kneeling not even a foot away from each other by a door, with Josie holding her ear protectively and his hand on her mouth. She merely glanced over at them but said nothing and continued on her way.

"Bra?" Trunks called, surprised that she hadn't commented.

"I don't even want to know Trunks, I don't even wanna know." She said simply, chuckling. Trunks shrugged, looking back down at Josie who was glaring madly at the door and holding her ear, she quickly swatted his hand away.

"You okay?" He asked, amused.

"I'm fine." She said dismissively.

…

"…Goten." Valerie called suddenly, disrupting Goten's eating. He looked over, swallowing what he was eating and smiling over at her.

"What's up." He asked casually, sitting on a stool and holding his bag of chocolate covered raisins on his lap comfortably.

"Theirs something I want to ask you." She said firmly, cringing as she started to hear her heart beat thumping loudly in her ears. He nodded for her to continue as he set aside the bag, smiling patiently. "What are you doing on Sunday?" She asked. He scratched his chin, thoughtfully.

"That's a good question. I think I'm not doing anything Sunday." He said honestly.

"…I w-was." She gulped, shaking her head, miserable. "I was, I was wondering if you'd like to maybe go out and eat or something that day." she said. He blinked.

"You mean like on a date?" He asked curiously. She flinched at the word, making a helpless noise in her throat, as she nodded.

"Yes." She said, her voice a lot higher than she wanted it to sound.

"Sure!" He said with a smile. "Been a while since I've gone out on a date." He said happily. "And we're going to eat? This is going to be a great date." He said happily.

…

"Whoa!" Trunks pulled his ear from the door, looking at it in shock.

"What? What?" Josie asked, looking at him desperately. He looked at her. "What?" She demanded.

"….Valerie just…" He tilted his head, and went back to listen.

"What!" She insisted, grabbing his suit by the lapels, wishing she could shake him more than just a fraction to show him her frustration.

"Valerie asked Goten out." Josie smiled at that, letting go, sitting back on her haunches, satisfied. She nodded.

"Good." She said simply, leaning to try to hear anything else, unable to even press her ear to the door again before the door was opened abruptly, both she had Trunks falling on the ground, staring up at Goten and Valerie who stared at them.

"Hey guys." Trunks said with a sheepish smile. "How you guys doing?" He asked. Josie rolled her eyes, then her body as she quickly shuffled up, trying to adjust her dress quickly, before grabbing Valerie and dragging her down the hallway into another room.

"What's with all the pushing?" Valerie asked, shaking her off and taking a few steps away to study this new room that they were in. It mostly looked like a bedroom. Josie shook the question away with a shake of her hands, pointing to the bed.

"Sit, and tell me what the heck happened." She demanded. Valerie smiled, amused at Josie's desperation, taking a seat, taking her time with getting comfortable, which really wasn't much of a show because she really was having a hard time getting comfortable with the skirt.

"You know, this skirt you guys picked out is way too tight, I think if I were to bend down any you'd-"

"Shut up!" Josie demanded. Valerie merely smiled in response. Josie stared at her smile, confused, shaking her hands to gesture for her to get on with it. "Well?" She asked, frustrated.

Her brows burrowed as she got nothing but a wider smile in reply. She repeated their small conversation in her head, and her eyes narrowed dangerous when she realized what Valerie was doing. "Alright smartass." Josie said, turning tail and going to the door. Valerie blinked in surprise, and quickly scuttled up, grabbing Josie's arm.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked, fearfully.

"No where at all. Don't worry about it." Josie waved dismissively, pulling her arm away.

"What the hell! Tell me!" Valerie asked desperately.

"Why should I?" Josie bit back, annoyance flashing back into her eyes.

"FINE! I'll tell you." Valerie said with a sigh, rolling her eyes. "He said yes." Josie grinned, having already heard this, but glad to have it confirmed.

"I am so happy for you!" Josie squealed, grinning. "I hope you don't think this isn't a big deal, because this is completely a big deal, and you are going to have a great time. We are going to make you look freaken amazing for Goten-"

"Man! Come-on! What the heck for-"

"What do you mean what the heck for!" Josie shouted back with disbelief. "You're going on a date with THE Son Goten!" Valerie threw her arms up in desperation, their was just no arguing with Josie when she got this adamant about something.

"I swear you were sometimes pushy at home but you were never this-" Josie rolled her eyes with a grin.

"Things are different here." She said happily, with a shrug. She went to the door and left without another word, going further down the hallway back where they had left the boys, who were still standing around in the hallway by the looks of it - talking amongst themselves. Goten glanced over.

"Hey Josie-"

"Hi." Josie said quickly, bypassing Goten and going right for Trunks, grabbing him by the arm and continuing to walk with a confused teen in tow. "Need to borrow purple head - hope you don't mind." Josie said quickly, not stopping to see if it was okay. She stopped by another room, quickly glancing in and stepping in; she looked at Trunks expectantly to follow. He hesitantly did so, glancing over at Goten who merely shrugged and walked the opposite way of them. Trunks walked inside and smiled in amusement when he saw Josie struggling for the light switch. He effortlessly found it and turned it on, watching her blink rapidly when the lights flooded the room. She looked around, somewhat confused.

"…Why does this look so-"

"This is where you came that first time - you spent a little bit of time in the Regen tank, remember?" He asked, lightly pointing in the direction of the machine. She turned towards it, studying it, she finally nodded.

"I do." She finally said, she turned her attention back to him, making him straighten up uncomfortably. He tended to get that way around Josie because he was never sure what the heck was going through the semi-crazy girl's brain. "Close that door, will you?" She asked, nodding behind him, where he was still holding the door open. He scratched his head, uncomfortably, and finally nodded, turning his body towards the door to close it. He took his time in turning back around and when he did she was only a few feet away smiling up at him, happily.

"Trunks." She started with a grin. He blinked, leaning quickly back on the wall by the door, startled.

"Yes?" He asked, gulping.

"Me and you...we need to help those two bakas." He blinked again, once more thrown for a loop.

"Who?" He asked, completely confused. She gave him a strange look.

"Goten and Valerie, duh." She said with a sigh, frustrated that the boy wasn't keeping up. She went back to studying the room, allowing him to relax a little again.

"..Oh." He said, still confused. "What do they need help with again?"

"Come-on Briefs!" Josie said laughing, turning towards him. "They're going out on a date together, did Goten mention at all what he and Valerie would be doing on this date?" Josie asked. Trunks gave the question serious thought, and shook his head with a smile.

"No he didn't." He confirmed, she nodded, figuring as much.

"Do you think he even thought that far ahead." Trunk's smile widened into a grin.

"Nope." She nodded once more, crossing her arms, as she started brainstorming.

"That's what I thought."

…

"Do you think you can break into this thing and show us her hidden stash of pictures?" Krillin asked Bulma conspiringly, as he approached her holding a drink in his hands. She turned away from the table she was leaning down towards, and arched a brow at him, crossing her arms.

"I suppose I could Krillin, but I would not do that and you know it." Krillin sighed, nodding.

"I know. Their was no harm in asking- but come-on, don't tell me you're not even mildly curious to see some of those pictures of us she refused to show us…" He tried to tempt, grinning.

"No Krillin!" Bulma insisted, rolling her eyes and walking the other way.

"Bulma!" Krillin cried, following after her.

"You okay over here Piccolo?" Goku asked, smiling, as he approached the very serious looking Namek.

"…What do you make of all of this Goku?" Piccolo asked, his arms crossed, ignoring the masses of people still chattering loudly all throughout the room. Focusing his energy on tracking those two tiny life forces in the building that were from another dimension altogether. Goku scratched his head.

"I don't know Piccolo, I've talked to them a few times and they seem like pretty good kids to me, a little loud, but good." Goku offered with a light shrug. "Goten's here with them all the time now too." He added, smiling when he noticed Piccolo seemed unconvinced. "Don't worry so much Piccolo, Vegeta's been watching them pretty carefully and they haven't done anything wrong." Piccolo gave them that. "Besides-" Goku blinked, cut off by a weird crackling noise in the room. The room slowly quieted, and people stopped moving around as they heard the odd static and shuffling.

"_So here's what I'm thinking. We have them go somewhere crowded and noisy-_" Josie's voice filled the room, sounding a bit distant. Krillin stopped chasing after Bulma right before heading into the dinning room after her, he backtracked, spinning slowly, looking for the source of the voice. Bulma slowly stepped back out as well, confused.

"_What about a restaurant?_" Trunks voice suggested.

"_Are you kidding me? With the eating habits you guys have, they'd get noticed in a second._"

"_We could just make sure he eats really well beforehand._" Trunks added.

"What the heck is going on?" Chichi asked Bulma who was frowning.

"…I think that one of them must have accidentally activated an intercom somewhere in the house." Bulma explained to those nearby with a frown.

…

"I guess that's true." Josie agreed with a thoughtful nod as she tried to picture this perfect date for Goten and Valerie.

"So we're agreed then." Trunks asked, uncomfortably. This was more Bra and Josie's territory and he just wanted to get out of this room. He had thought, briefly, when Josie had brought him to this room that she was maybe going to ask him out too, similar to what Goten and Valerie had just done a few minutes ago and now he felt ridiculously embarrassed for letting that ridiculous notion pass through his head. Josie glanced over, noticing Trunks oddly pensive mood.

"You alright?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah, why?" He asked, shuffling his weight to the other foot and crossing his arms defensively. Josie tilted her head as she noticed it.

"You're just.." She gestured with a raised hand. "Tense - and you're pressed up against that wall as if I have some horrible disease you might catch if you get within fifteen feet of me." Trunks chuckled, shaking his head.

…

"Why does it keep getting cut off?" Oolong asked, frustrated. He along with Roshi, Chichi, and Krillin were pressed up against the wall near the stairs, where the intercom hung on the wall, trying desperately to overhear the two teens.

"I don't know, does anyone have any idea what they're talking about?" Krillin asked, curiously.

…

"…" Bra sat on the floor along with the other teens. The sitting room with all the teens in it was dead silent, Goten and Valerie had gone back in there and cheerfully had gone back to socializing with them when the intercom had turned on. Josie and Trunks voice were ringing throughout the entire house. "…Val?" Bra asked, confused, seeing the twitch in Valerie's eyes at the moment. Her face was beat red, she knew what Josie and Trunks were discussing. Thankfully the two idiots hadn't mentioned them by name yet-

"_Valerie and Goten going on a date, can you believe it? I think they'd make a pretty good couple._" Josie voice drifted out. Valerie let out an indescribable noise in her throat and stormed up, rushing to the intercom trying to desperately turn that thing off.

"Whoa, whoa!" Goten quickly got up and tried to interfere for the poor life of the defenseless intercom.

"Danger, danger!" Giru shouted, being quickly dragged back down by Pan who put a hand to his mouth to shut him up.

"Val, there's no point, the most you can do is turn down the volume for each intercom one by one." Bra explained, standing up and going to help Goten who'd taken her off the machine.

"..What do you mean one by one?" Valerie asked, eyes narrowed. Bra blinked, a little surprised at the flutters of nervousness she felt at the moment because of the usually non threatening girl.

"What I mean, is that this is a one-way transmission and according to… what's left of the intercom." Bra said cringing at the now short circuiting intercom. "This is playing on all intercoms in the house." She confirmed. Valerie's eyes widened.

"…I'm going to kill her." Valerie said simply, storming out of the room with Goten hot on her heels trying to talk her down.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**:

"_Your father." Valerie said angrily. "Why? Why did he do it?" She asked. Bra's expression sobered. _

"_..I don't know." She said ashamed. "You know how she has a talent for making him mad. Maybe she finally pushed him too far."_

**End Sneak Peek**:

* * *

No note, only thank you for the 5 reviews for this one, I adore you guys!


	13. Chapter 13: Little Girls

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Db/z/Gt or any of Akira Toriyama's characters.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 13: **Little Girls.

"Yup." Trunks agreed with Josie, still a little anxious. Josie looked over, noticing and rolling her eyes again, going towards him.

"Come-on Trunks, I swear I'm not going to bite you, you can come further into the room-" She took him by the arm and pulled him off the wall, letting him stand a few feet further in the room. "Tadaa." She said, somewhat sarcastically. They both turned back towards the wall where they heard a click.

"What was that?" Josie asked him confused. He frowned, looking back at the intercom, taking a few steps towards It.

"Sounded like the intercom."

"Oh." Josie said dismissively. "Was somebody trying to contact you or something?" He shook his head slowly as he studied it, glancing at her nervously. "What?" She asked, noticing it.

"…Josie." He hesitated and Josie started to feel nervous.

"What?" She insisted.

"…I think it was on while we were talking." He explained, she looked at him with an expression that asked, _'so what?_'. "This is programmed for all - I think all the intercoms projected what we were talking about." Josie's eyes widened.

"…Everyone in the house heard all of that?" She asked slowly. He nodded, running his hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry, I might have been pressing the on button when I was leaning on that wall, I didn't even feel it. When you pulled me off was when it finally stopped. I think." He said, shaking his head a little. "I'm not even sure quite frankly, might have just pressed it for a second as you were pulling me away, so maybe nothing happene-"

"JOSIE!" Valerie shouted through the halls. The two locked eyes.

"Yeah, so much for that theory." Josie muttered. "I need to go hide." Josie said quickly, opening the door and looking out before quickly going down the hallway. "Stall her!" She shouted back at him as he started to follow her, only seeing a quick flutter of her purple dress as she disappeared. Trunks blinked when Valerie pushed past him.

"Val-" She turned back, glaring murderously at Trunks.

"I'll deal with you after I kill that baka onna." She promised menacingly over her shoulder, struggling to move faster to catch up with Josie in the skirt she was in. "STUPID DAMN SKIRT!" She shouted tugging at it uselessly. "JOSIE- GET THE HELL BACK HERE!"

She heard a faint and stubborn '_No!_' yelled back. She muttered curses darkly and sped up.

…

Josie rounded a corner, reaching the living room where the others were chuckling and talking amongst themselves. When she came in the room, everyone immediately became silent.

Josie rolled her eyes. "I know you know." She accused.

"Sorry Josie." Bulma said sheepishly. "We didn't know what room you were broadcasting from, and the intercom doesn't let me interrupt you unless both channels were activated directly to each other." She explained. Josie looked behind her nervously, hearing the louder footsteps.

"That's all fine and well, but I have one pissed off-"

"JOSIE!" Valerie screamed. Josie cringed, looking around desperately for someplace to hide. Her eyes landed on the disinterested Vegeta, and she immediately moved into action, hiding behind him, confident that Valerie wouldn't mess with her behind _him_.

"YOU DAMN BAKA, YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR THIS TI-" Valerie stopped her tirade abruptly, coming to a shaky stop when she saw everyone in the living room. A blush rose on her cheeks, her chest coming up and down, angry and humiliated beyond belief. She tried hard to ignore everyone's stares and tried to focus solely on the pain she intended to inflict on Josie. "YOU!" She shouted, her finger pointing accusingly at Josie, who was still behind Vegeta. She wouldn't have even noticed her there had the dumb girl not peeked from behind him.

"Watch who you point at, girl." Vegeta warned. Valerie immediately lowered her accusing finger, and her anger went down a notch, knowing no matter how angry she was, that she should not mess with the unbelievably strong man. She sighed, frustrated, running a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "Can you please…give that…_thing_ to me, please?" She asked, raising herself on the tips of her toes, trying to look behind him from where she stood.

"Get her yourself." He said, annoyed, his arms crossed as he started to leave, intending to be done with this waste of time and retire to the gravity room for the rest of the night. Josie was left alone and vulnerable to Valerie's wrath, where he had once stood. Valerie started to make her way forward and Josie's eyes widened in disbelief, she quickly turned tail and angrily followed after Vegeta.

"You jerk! you owe me! Do you realize how many people asked me to show them more about you? About your past? I could have seriously embarrassed you, and maybe I should have - maybe I freaken will!-" Josie blinked, feeling her back and head slam into something hard behind her. She closed her eyes, confused, trying to make everything stop viciously spinning.

"What did you just say to me?" Vegeta asked quietly, the danger ringing loud and clear. Josie's eyes immediately opened at his voice, surprised, she had thought that maybe she'd fallen down and gotten disoriented or something. She hadn't seen anything move at all, but she was now in the kitchen, her back pressed uncomfortably to the fridge door handle and an incredibly angry Vegeta no more than a foot away with his hand tightly around her throat.

"I-" She sputtered, cringing at the effort to swallow, her hand reflexively on his to try to pry him off, unable to nudge him at all. "I..I just meant-" She shook out, terrified.

"Be quiet." He commanded, with a small shake. "No one." He said through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed. "But no one threatens me." He said simply, raising his other hand and forming a blast, the light of the blast clearly illuminating her face and the fear in her eyes as he neared the blast towards her throat. "If you ever think about trying to-"

"Vegeta, that's enough!" Goku shouted, angrily. Vegeta glanced over his shoulder, seeing that Goku had come into the kitchen and was now looking at him, with a serious grimace on his face.

"This is none of your concern, Kakarrot." He said simply. The kitchen door flew open and Trunks as well as Bra rushed in.

"Dad, let her go." Trunks said in disbelief.

"Boy, don't you tell-"

"Daddy!" Bra shouted, tears filling her eyes. Vegeta tensed, turning his attention back to Josie who loosely had both her hands wrapped around Vegeta's wrist, her stare distant and fixated on the blast. His teeth clenched tightly and his hand shook with his anger; the possible threat had loomed over his head for weeks at what she could be, what hidden powers this creature could possess, when she would finally attack them.

But where was this power? Her consciousness was quickly fading and all she did was limply hang in his hands.

She truly was just a weal girl.

In disgust, he snarled and without another word, the blast dissipated and Vegeta disappeared in the blink of an eye out the back door. Josie's now unsupported body crumpled to the ground. "Josie!" Trunks called, at her side in a second. He wrapped an around her shoulders, lifting her head. "She's out." He said to the others, quietly. He lifted her up, and went to Goku and Bra. Goku studied her for a moment, until he was satisfied that she was going to be alright. He nodded.

"You should have your mother take a look at her." Goku requested. "But don't worry guys." He said, putting a hand on Bra and Trunks shoulder, seeing how unhappy they looked. "She'll be okay." He assured, going towards the back door. Trunks turned to him, confused.

"Goku, where are you going?" With a hand to the doorknob, Goku turned back.

"I'm going to go talk to Vegeta." Trunks eyes narrowed.

"Why bother?" He asked, angrily. Goku smiled at him.

"He was mad Trunks but I know he didn't mean to take it as far as he did. Though, he won't say anything, I'm sure he's going to be worried. I'm going to go tell him she's going to be just fine." He explained, before quietly going out the back door.

"Come-on." Bra tugged on Trunks sleeve, looking at Josie with concern, wanting her friend to get some medical attention as soon as possible, despite Goku's assurance that she'd be fine. They went past the dinning room and back into the living room where everyone was deadly silent. The fighters all aware of the spike of ki. It had been what had sent Trunks rushing in after Goku.

"Trunks what.." Bulma's eyes landed on Josie's limp form. Beside her Goten and Valerie stared in bewilderment.

"..." Valerie hesitantly took a step forward. "...Josie?"

"Mom, can we check her out in the infirmary?" Trunks asked, turning his attention to his mother, who nodded, confused.

"Yeah, let's go." She said, turning and having them follow without another word. They entered the infirmary and Trunks carefully placed Josie on the examination table, taking a step back to allow his mom to take reign. She grabbed her equipment and went about checking her vitals with the teens waiting all on the sidelines quietly. After about ten minutes, Bulma started to put her stuff away, distracted.

"Mommy, how is she?" Bra asked. Bulma glanced at her daughter, as she put her stuff away.

"I think she's alright sweetie. The only thing I can see is some bruising on her throat, but I don't understand why there is faint burns.." She said confused.

"…Father was threatening her with a ki blast to the throat." Trunks said simply. Bulma eyes widened, her gaze going back to Josie, studying her with new eyes. She pushed herself from the table she was at and went back to Josie, putting an instinctual protective hand on the girl's hair and the other tenderly studying the marks on her throat.

"Poor baby." She mumbled quietly, with sadness heavy in her voice. She turned to the others, "That explains a lot." Bulma said with a grimace. "In that case, we are going to have to take an MRI, Trunks, can you get her for me? We're taking her to the lab upstairs." Bulma ordered. He nodded - silently going to Josie and taking her past the others. Bulma followed and stopped once she passed Valerie, turning to her.

"Honey…it wasn't your fault." She said, frowning at the expression she saw on the younger girl's face. Valerie turned her face towards Bulma but kept eyes directed at the examination table that Josie had been on a few moments earlier. "Valerie." Bulma tried again. This time she got her eyes. "Go with Bra and get a drink of water in the kitchen, then go ahead on upstairs, Bra will show you were to go." Bulma instructed, looking past Valerie at Bra who nodded in agreement, taking her by the shoulders and leading her out. Goten watched them go.

"They going to be okay, Bulma?" He asked, concerned. She put a hand on Goten's shoulder giving him a smile.

"I think so, kiddo." She said. "Now do me a favor and let the others know the party is put on hold for now. Trunks is a bit angry to do it and Bra's hurting, I didn't want to ask either of them to do it-" Goten shook his head with a smile.

"Don't worry about it Bulma, I'll take care of it." He assured. Her smile brightened as she reached up to ruffle his hair.

"Thanks Goten." She said sincerely.

…

Vegeta was sweating profusely at the intensity of his work-out as he moved faster than the eye could see within the Gravity Room walls, avoiding invisible enemies. Their was a small beeping noise as he did a series of kicks in the air, he paused when he heard them, not having much of a warning before the gravity went down to normal and he came crashing to the ground. He only heard the front door opening before a voice filled the room.

"..Oh wow. Look at all this, Bulma upgraded this baby, didn't she? How high does thing go now?" Vegeta growled, turning his head to look over at the intruder with gravity defying hair like his own. He saw Goku crouching down by the gravity machine, studying the upgrades. Goku glanced over with a smile. "Sorry. I didn't meant to interrupt your training." He said sheepishly.

"Then get out." Vegeta spat out, annoyed, as he started to push his sore muscles into helping him up.

"Aw, come-on Vegeta, don't be like that. I just came to talk." Goku said, smiling, as he stood back up.

"I'm not interested." Vegeta said dismissively, as he went to a side of the chamber and picked up a discarded towel; beginning to wipe himself down for a good minute, enjoying the miraculous silence from the other Saiyan. Goku studied Vegeta silently, his easy remarks and demeanor now gone.

"…Vegeta." He finally started, making Vegeta tense up.

"Whatever it is you are about to say Kakarot, I have no interest in hearing it." He clarified, turning to Goku with a glare.

"You hurt her, Vegeta." Goku continued, ignoring Vegeta's displeasure.

"Bah." Vegeta threw a dismissive hand away from himself. "I have no interest in hearing you blather on about some weak human girl." Goku nodded.

"That's just it Vegeta." Goku said, taking a step forward, trying to make his old friend see. "I know this whole time you've been uncomfortable with all that these two girls seem to know about our world, and I know you've just been waiting for them to attack or do something... But I really think this is it Vegeta, theirs no gimmicks, no tricks. They're just two human girls, and you went too far."

…

"Here we go." Bra said quietly, leading Valerie to a chair in the kitchen corner, crouching in front of her and making her take the cup of water she'd just prepared. With a little encouragement Bra made her take a few sips. "You feel better?" She asked. Valerie looked at her.

"Why?" She croaked out.

Bra's brows furrowed with confusion, repeating the word back to her. "Your father." Valerie clarified angrily. "**Why?** Why did he do it?" She asked passionately. Bra's expression sobered.

"..I don't know." She said, ashamed. "You know how she has a talent for making him mad... Maybe she finally pushed him too far." Valerie shook her head vehemently.

"It doesn't matter, he knew that she was no threat-he _knew_! He knew that she worshipped the very ground that he walked on from day one!" Her voice continued to rise. "She's been his BIGGEST FAN ever since I've known her!" She shouted. "She would have done anything for him, Bra, anything! And he g-goes and does this? T-that's- he's just- I can't even-" Bra turned away, her eyes stinging with tears.

"..I'm so sorry." Bra murmured weakly, turning away, her beautiful blue big eyes stinging with tears. The righteous anger quickly left Valerie as soon as it came over her, slumping her in seat.

"Guys?" Goten called, as he made his way into the kitchen looking between the two girls nervously. "Hey." He said at the doorway, somber. "…You two okay in here?" Bra and Valerie looked at each other.

"Yeah." Valerie said with a small nod, as she stood up and reached out a hand to help Bra up. "We're okay." Valerie gave her an apologetic look to which Bra smiled back, nodding at Goten.

"Good." Goten said, relaxing a little now that he saw Valerie talking a bit more. "You ladies want to go up and see Josie?"

…

After some tests were taken, Bulma had Goten take Josie back to her bedroom to rest until results came back. She did not wake up for the remainder of the night. Goten had decided to stay over that night to try to help out with anything, he and Trunks had taken on the task of cleaning up after the party, along with the help bots and when they were all finished they all set up camp all throughout Josie's bedroom incase she needed anything. They'd given Valerie something to help her sleep, and the remaining awake half Saiyans stayed and quietly talked for a few hours before falling asleep. Bulma had gone to her bedroom to sleep and locked herself in, posting a sign outside the door informing Vegeta of where he'd be sleeping for the next few days.

The next morning, Bulma came into Josie's bedroom with a bag, and a cup of coffee in her hand. She smiled at the sight of all 'her' children in the room sleeping all over the place. Valerie on one side of the couch, half propped up on the arm of the chair and Bra on the other, her legs tucked underneath her, using her arms as a pillow. Trunks had brought in two sleeping bags and had them on the floor, his near Josie's bed, and Goten near the closet, though it was hard to tell that either boy had started out originally in their sleeping bags, because both had arms and legs thrown all over the place. Bulma smiled fondly, stopping her study of everyone when she noticed that Josie was sitting up in bed with a pillow propping her up against the wall a little more comfortably, hands calmly folded on her lap, and she appeared to be observing the teenagers for a while now as well. Josie glanced over at Bulma with a smile, giving her a small wave.

"Josie-" Josie pursed her lips and put an index finger up, indicating that she should be quiet. Bulma was dumbfounded by the fairly happy and seemingly un-traumatized girl in bed, so calm and collected, in comparison to what she was always like. Bulma shook her head, setting her bag to the side, and eyeing Josie as she took a zip of her coffee and made her way closer, careful to avoid Trunks disregarded lower extremities. She set down her coffee on Josie's nightstand and sat right beside her. "Honey, how are you doing?" She asked quietly. Josie smiled softly, nodding to indicate that she was alright. "Do you want to get out of here, so we can talk?" She asked, receiving another nod as Josie glanced at her sleeping friends. Bulma nodded and stood up, putting an arm around Josie to help her get up. Josie didn't refuse the help, she had tried earlier to get up and had failed miserably, almost falling on the sleeping Trunks. Her legs felt lax, so she put an arm around Bulma's shoulder and appreciatively let her take on some of her weight.

They made their way out of the bedroom and Bulma took a different turn and pushed a few buttons on a wall, producing an elevator. Josie blinked at it in surprise, and shook her head amused, she didn't even know why she was surprised. This house had everything. Bulma smiled as she thought she could figure what Josie was thinking. Bulma took Josie to the lab that she had been in earlier and helped her sit down on an examination table.

"Alright little darling." Bulma said, taking a few steps away and turning back to Josie, crossing her arms as she studied her again. "Be honest with me now, can you talk?" Josie bit her bottom lip nervously, as she gently swayed her feet that couldn't reach the floor. She shook her head finally. Bulma sighed, a frown on her face. "…I was hoping this wouldn't happen, but." She shook her head as she went behind her desk and took out some scans from the previous day. "I had my suspicions that it might happen."

…

"Wake-up you heavy oaf!" Bra hissed, shoving at her brother's shoulder, unable to stir the half Saiyan awake. He mumbled, turning away from the offensive voice, only enraging his sister further. "Wake up!" She growled, thumping him on the head.

"OW!-"

"SH!" Bra hissed once more, covering her brother's mouth with her hand as he sat up, rubbing his head, glaring at her.

"Whasubigdul?" Bra scrunched up her face, confused.

"What?" Trunks rolled his eyes, smacking her hand away.

"What is the big deal Bra! I was trying to-" Bra gestured wildly at Valerie who was still asleep. Trunks immediately got the hint and shut up.

"Way to be quiet guys." Goten said with a smile, as he started to fold his sheets. Trunks and Bra looked over at him. "So," Goten started conversationally. "Where did you guys take Josie?" He asked, a little confused. In the time that Bra had spent trying to wake up her brother, she'd accidentally waken him up, and that had been the first thing he'd noticed. Trunks head snapped towards Josie's bed and his brain worked overtime trying to figure out what the heck had happened and where she could be. He scrambled up and spun around, hoping she'd mysteriously appear.

"She's not in here." Bra said quietly, grabbing her brother's arm to make him stop, before she got them all dizzy. "Maybe mom took her somewhere, let's just go find her." She said, tugging at them to make their way out.

"What about Valerie?" Goten asked in a hushed tone, as he followed the two siblings out of the room.

"I'll get her up and follow you guys, just find her." Bra ordered. The two left and she made her way back into the room, studying the still sleeping Valerie. She carefully stepped to her and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle shake - sending Valerie crashing to the floor. Bra stepped back, her eyes widening.

"Oops.." She mumbled.

…

After multiple apologies from Bra, the small accident was forgotten when Valerie noticed Josie was no longer in the room and the two set about to find her.

"I'm not very worried." Bra said to Valerie. 'I'm sure my mom took her to the lab again, some of those tests were going to take time." She assured, as they rounded a corner and went down a hallway, hearing loud voices as they got closer. Bra and Valerie shared a confused look, and unconsciously sped up a little, opening the door to Bulma's lab.

"-Are you serious? Not at all? But mom!" Trunks shouted, frustrated and confused, eyes wide as he stared at Josie who sat on the examination table still, eyes downcast. "I just don't understand why you didn't tell us this was a possibility yesterday!"

"Trunks, I didn't want to unnecessarily scare you guys if nothing came of it-"

"Well something did, mom!" Josie crumpled up a paper and threw it square at Trunks chest, glaring at him. He blinked, surprised, all anger vanquishing in a moment. He saw the disapproval in her eyes, and reached down to pick up the paper, straightening it out again to read the messy scrawl on there that read,

_Stop_

He looked at her, holding it out, confused. Josie sighed, relieved to have his attention, she wrote more calmly.

_I know you're unhappy about this, but please, that's no reason to shout. Your mom is doing the best she can, please stop. _

Instead of throwing it at him this time, she handed it to him and he took it without another word; upon reading it his jaw clenched, as he crumpled it up in a fist at his side. He nodded, unable to speak anymore anyway. He went to a side of the room to get himself back together. Bra watched her brother go, upset, and stepped forward, frowning.

"Mom, what's going on?" She asked, Valerie right beside her. Bulma hesitated when she caught sight of Valerie, and glanced at Josie, who didn't notice the look - her gaze firmly stuck on Valerie who was looking at the ground. Josie frowned at her friend refusing to meet her eyes and crumpled up another piece of paper, raising her hand, ready to launch it at Valerie's head - but Bulma's hand came up and gently held her by the wrist to stop her. She shook her head and Josie frowned, confused. What was wrong with Valerie? She'd never seen her so down before.

"Girls." Bulma started gently, as she reached up for Josie's hand and lowered their clasped hands to her side, putting her other hand over it to comfort and take some in return. "Me and Josie have been trying for a few hours now, but it appears that she can't talk. The MRI shows that theirs a little bit of damage to Josie's Larynx - her voice box, depending on - a lot of things really - on the passage of time, on how she heals, theirs a good chance that she'll recover her voice again, but their is a chance that she won't." Bulma said honestly. Trunks closed his eyes tightly, loathing having to hear the words a second time, Goten was now by his side, studying Josie; Bra's eyes were wide, and Valerie had immediately turned around and walked right back out of the room. Josie's eyes had widened in surprise at her friend's reaction and she had immediately tried to get up to follow after her, but her legs wobbled. Goten had appeared at her side in an instant, helping her up. She held on to his arms, confused. Where was Valerie going?

…

Vegeta had been walking back towards the house when he caught a glimpse of Valerie storming out of the front of the house, leaving Capsule Corp grounds. Bulma had made sure to corner him earlier and tell him just what damage he'd inflicted on the 'helpless girl' and he was fairly sure that this other girl was in such a state because of it. He was tempted to just continue walking and head inside to shower, but before he gave himself a chance to question the action, he floated in the air and went after her. About a block later he saw her start to slow down, from the sky. She growled, angrily and continued fiercely down another street. He rolled his eyes, the dumb girl didn't even know where she was going.

He landed on the ground a few feet behind her and made his presence known, she glanced behind her, saw him, her eyes widened for a second, before they narrowed again. She decidedly kept going forward, ignoring him completely.

"Where are you going?" He asked annoyed. She ignored the question and kept walking another block in hostile silence, before suddenly changing her mind and rounding back on him.

"She adores you." She sputtered angrily. "You could have never done any wrong in her book. I never understood it. And I understand it even less now." She muttered with obvious disgust. "How could you do this to her?" She asked desperately, her chest tight, tears in her eyes.

He saw Fear, helplessness, confusion, and even righteous anger that tangibly radiating off of this enraged girl in spades. But nothing else. No hidden power ready to lash out at him, no plot for revenge to punish him for his crimes, only worry and sorrow. Kakarot had been right all along.

They were just weak little girls.

"….Where are you going?" He repeated, less forcefully. Her eyes searched his for a morsel of regret and saw nothing but a indifferent mask in place and she shook her head, angrily, turning back to continue on her way.

"I'm going to the spot where we landed and I'm going to find a way for us to go back home." She said firmly.

"Oh?" He asked, taking leisure steps behind her. "You are going to find nothing there. We scouted the entire area the day of your arrival and their was nothing." She shook her head fiercely, refusing to believe that.

"I might find something you missed. A machine brought us and it can take us back. I won't wait here and take the risk of you killing us before the dragon balls activate again."

"And what will you do if you managed to go to your plane of existence right now?" He asked mockingly, as he stopped, done with this ridiculous chase. "From what the other girl said, our technology is superior to yours. How would going back to that world help her get well again?" She stopped at that.

"My woman can help her improve thousands of times faster than that freak world of yours could." Valerie glared at the ground, fists shaking at her sides. He was right, and she knew it. She was torn between ignoring what he was saying and finding a way back home anyway; But she couldn't make herself move forward knowing that Josie would have a better chance at getting back to normal in this world, in the care of the smartest woman alive.

Valerie swallowed a lump in her throat wishing she could turn and scream at the cold man standing a few feet behind her. She bit her tongue, as she twisted back around and made a wide circle around him childishly, marching back to Capsule Corp, muttering.

"Fine…" She quietly agreed. "We'll stay."

* * *

Sneak Peek:

_**Could you please maybe take me to the roof for a little while?**_

_He frowned, displeased with the request. _

"_You've got two legs." He retorted back. She sighed nodding._

_**They seem to be getting a kick out of pretending they're the injured ones as opposed to my actual throat. They've got a sense of humor that way. **_

End Sneak Peek:

* * *

**Note: **I remember the first time around I posted this, I had some unhappy people with me because of what Vegeta did. I think the reasons for it developed a little more this time around and I have to say, I really am fond of this chapter. I love Valerie and Vegeta in this one J I'd love to hear your thoughts. Review please, Ja ne! Princess Geta.


	14. Chapter 14: Amazing

**Disclaimer: **Do not own.

**Note:** None.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 14: **Amazing

Vegeta had taken back to the sky and had hovered far above, making sure that the dumb girl got back to Capsule Corporation safely, thinking that the last thing he needed was for his woman to be mad at him for another thing relating to the pesky girls. After some time in the air, he finally went back home and silently walked through the halls of Capsule Corp. He went to Bulma's lab, knowing that that was where she was spending all her time since all of this started, hoping to convince her to at least fix him lunch. When he came in the large space he only saw Josie sitting on the examination table, waving her legs back and forth, massaging them with a frown. He hesitated, about to turn around and leave again, when she looked up, locking eyes with him. After a moment of studying his expression,

she smiled at him.

He blinked, surprised, his mask coming off completely for once, as Josie sat up, still smiling, amused at his reaction. "W-where is the woman?" He asked roughly, trying to put himself back together again, embarrassed at his slip. She tilted her head and finally looked down for her notebook. She found it and started to write on it, ripping off the page and holding it out for him. He hesitated, his instincts to watch out with the two girls coming back up, for a second, before he forced it back down and he straightened up, going to her and impatiently taking the paper.

_Bulma is downstairs fixing lunch for everyone, Trunks is showering, Bra got a call, and Goten went out to find Valerie. Was there anything I could help you with?_

He arched a brow, handing the sheet back to her, turning and taking a few steps back towards the door. "No." He answered simply, almost reaching the before he heard hurried knocks to metal. He turned around and saw that she was knocking on the examination table she was on; Relieved to have gotten his attention again, she quickly started scribbling again.

_Vegeta, I'm really tired of being poked and prodded here, I'd really love some fresh air. Could you please maybe take me to the roof for a little while?_

He frowned, displeased with the request. "You've got two legs." He retorted back. She sighed nodding.

_They seem to be getting a kick out of pretending they're the injured ones as opposed to my actual throat. They've got a sense of humor that way. _

He looked up to see her pouting, but it wasn't that that finally convinced him to fulfill her request, instead it was the look of badly concealed misery in her eyes, she didn't want to sit here and be poked and prodded and asked questions any more.

"..Just this once." He warned. She smiled, relieved, readily holding up her hands, looking happier already. He quickly picked her up and went out the door without another word.

He could have easily flown out the window but he didn't want her to think that he cowering away from the others after the incident. He refused to apologize for something he felt was inevitably coming since she'd appeared out of no where on what he now would forever remember to be a horrible day. She should consider herself lucky that he didn't incinerate her right then and there; it had been She who had crossed the line, despite what the other dumb short girl said…Vegeta frowned, speeding up his pace. Not wanting to think about her words anymore.

Josie noticed his change of mood but remained quiet and still, just hoping that his serious train of thought had nothing to do with her. She felt bad enough about the whole thing as it was. Everyone was taking it so much more harder than she imagined and she just felt terrible for it. Vegeta was the only one who was acting normal around her and the last thing she could take was him acting differently towards her too. Trunks, Goten, and Bra were talking in the living room when they passed through there, and they all immediately became silent at the strange silent, tensing. Trunks took a step forward to stop his father from whatever he was doing, but Bra put a hand forward and stopped him, knowingly.

"She's fine. Right Josie?" Bra asked, eyes searching hers. Josie nodded, looking back at them as Vegeta kept walking and did not stop to give her a chance to answer properly. She quickly took out her notebook and scribbled on it, ripping it off and throwing it to the air, knowing that the others were watching and that one of them was going to pick up the note. Goten was the first one curious enough to step forward once the odd pair stepped out of view and bent over to pick up the note.

"What's it say?" Bra asked curiously, coming up next to him. Not saying so, but feeling so much happier at the sight of her father and Josie on seemingly decent terms again. She'd been so crushed the prior night, twisted between loyalty in defending her father and in standing up for an innocent girl.

"She says that Vegeta's taking her to the roof for a while, if one of us can pick her up in an hour." Goten summarized, holding out the note for Bra to read for herself.

"…You sure she's okay alone with him?" Trunks asked hesitantly of his little sister, as he eyed the exit through which the two had just left not a minute earlier.

"Trunks, she'll be fine, daddy wouldn't hurt her again. I promise. He knows what he did was wrong." Bra assured confidently.

…

Josie would have yelped had she had the ability to do more than to squeak at the moment. Vegeta had dropped her on the roof, none too gently on her bottom, preparing to take off - but unable too - before Josie reached out and tugged at his pants material. He looked over in annoyance.

"What? I brought you here, what more do you want girl?" She smiled at his easily roused irritation and started to write.

_Look, I know why you did what you did last night and I just wanted to tell you that I understand. I figure everyone is giving you a bit of a hard time right now and I'm sorry. I know who you are and what you're like, I should have known better. I'm sorry Vegeta. _

He frowned at her apology, not sure quite what he felt about it. All he knew now was that he was feeling something similar to guilt and he didn't like it. Josie saw his frown and sighed, eyebrows knit together scribbling n her notebook again; she clearly wasn't explaining it right. She was trying to reassure him, not confuse him further.

_Vegeta, forget about it already. To be quite frank, I expected something bad to happen to us here. _

He took that other note, read that phrase, and gave her a look, which she mirrored right back at him, before starting to write again.

_Come-on, this couldn't have come free. Their had to be a catch to all of this, we don't just get to live out our wildest dream without suffering some kind of consequence. I didn't expect this though, this caught me completely off guard. _

She wrote on with an amused smiled.

_I thought the world would be attacked or something, I thought, we couldn't be this lucky, me and Val? to come here to this world, when no one else has, and be happy? I don't think so. _

She ripped the note off her spiral notebook and handed it to him. He didn't comment after reading it, merely handed it back to her and walked a few feet away from her, giving her his back, not wanting to read anything anymore.

Her whole thought process was disturbing. Josie stared at his back, confused, for a few minutes. Why wasn't he saying anything? She was trying to explain to him that she understood what he'd done and that she wasn't angry at him, and he apparently could care less. After a few minutes of completely silence, Josie only started to become irritated at his rude silence, and before she could stop herself she launched her pen, cap on, straight at his head. He felt the lightest of taps to the back of his hair, and turned around, more because of the sound of the pen hitting the ground, as opposed to him actually feeling anything. He saw Josie holding up her notebook at an angle, glaring.

_What the hell VEGGIE! What's with the silent treatment? Talk to me - I'm the mute one, not you!_

A chuckle escaped Vegeta unwittingly at that large sign that attempted to emphasize its anger with underlines and exclamation marks. He continued to chuckle as he went forward and sat on his haunches, looking at the pen on the ground beside him he picked it up, moving it slowly through his fingers.

"Amazing." He mumbled, while still playing with the pen. Josie tilted her head at the single word he'd finally chosen to say after five minutes of awkward silence.

He noted her confused expression and smirked in reply. "Even though you cannot speak a word, you still, somehow, manage to annoy me." He explained as he flicked the pen gently at her. Her eyes light up and her grin came instantaneously as she caught the pen to her stomach happily, looking up at the Prince of all Saiyans lovingly.

….

"This is it?" Valerie asked Trunks who nodded, standing beside her, right in front of the door with Roof Access from his mother's private lab. Valerie had finally come back and had wanted to spend some time alone, but once she'd been told where Josie was and who she was with, she immediately requested to be taken there at once. "And you're sure your father isn't there anymore?" Valerie asked, frowning at the now open doorway with stairs.

"I'm positive." Trunks insisted, turning on the lights inside the stairwell room. Valerie nodded, making her way up the stairs. She pushed open the door and cringed at the bright sun that immediately flooded her. She blinked a few times, squinting, trying to make out where Josie was. Her eyes finally landed on a form on the ground, stretching out. Josie glanced over, her legs were outstretched in front of her, a few feet apart, reaching for her toes, stretching out the muscles in her overly dramatic legs. Josie smiled and gave a wave from side to side. Valerie made her way to her, staring down at her with a frown. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did she look so calm? And why so damn happy?

Josie tried looking up at Valerie, and only saw her shadowed frown. Josie rolled her eyes and patted the spot on the ground beside her, insisting that Valerie sit down as well. Valerie slowly did so and continued to stare at her, trying to figure her out. Josie reached on her other side and started to write:

_Your looking pretty frowny, what's up?_

Valerie looked at the note, incredulously, holding the note up. "….Your freaken mute, that's what up." Josie grinned, amused.

_You don't have to rub it in Val, geez. _

Josie ripped off the note and handed it to her, grin still in place. Valerie glared at her, feeling so dumbfounded.

"Your idol hurt you, he was about to kill you. Why the hell aren't you pissed about this?" Valerie demanded. Josie's grin faded, and her eyes softened up. She bit her bottom lip thoughtfully as she carefully started to write out her next note:

_Val, please don't be mad at Vegeta. I've been an idiot while here, I've been constantly pushing him and pushing him. I insulted him, I questioned his sexual preference, I dangled over his head what information I knew about him. He just snapped. He wouldn't have killed me. _

"You don't know that." Valerie snapped, standing up, right after reading that last line, it irritating her last nerve. "Damn it Josie, what the hell is the matter with you? Why do you defend everything he does-he crossed the line. He went too far. We're just girls-" Valerie growled as Josie held up a hand to cut her off and started to write once again.

_He didn't know that. Yes, we said we were just two weak girls - but who we are? Where we come from? What control our world has over theirs? It's got to be scary Val. Two weak girls like us, unsure of whether we're a threat or not? Of what we can do? I think we made him nervous. _

Valerie took the note and hesitated when she read it. Josie could see that her anger came down a notch, and confusion going up one. She could tell that Valerie hadn't thought of the situation from that point of view. She quickly started writing again, hoping to sway her friend while she was undecided.

_Please Val. Don't be mad at him anymore._

Valerie rolled her eyes, annoyed that that was all Josie was worried about.

"Fine." She muttered. "It doesn't matter in any case, because I should have never came after you like that." She mumbled, unhappily; sitting back down. Josie frowned and quickly smacked Valerie's arm, surprising her.

_No more! I can't carry around your guilt, please Val. It was all a big accident, none of it should have happened, but it did, and I'm okay, you're okay. Let's just move on. _

Valerie hesitated, but glancing over at Josie, she could see that she would be a big part of how Josie recovered from everything that had happened and could see that she could either make it a lot easier for her friend to heal or she could mope and be miserable, and in turn make Josie feel the same. She finally nodded her agreement.

"Alright." She agreed. "It's behind us now." Josie smiled, relieved, mouthing,

'_Thank you.'_

Valerie smiled.

"Hey guys." Josie and Valerie turned to see Trunks, Bra, and Goten at the doorway leading back into the house. Josie nodded up at them, in a 'what's up' motion, grinning. "Dinner's in an hour or so, mom told us to go get ice cream for desert. You guys want to come?" Trunks asked, tilting his head at Josie, as he studied her. Josie looked at Valerie in question and after a few seconds Valerie finally caved in, nodding.

"Sure, what the hell," She mumbled with a chuckle, dusting her bottom off as she reached out a hand to help Josie up. Goten and Trunks moved forward to help her up but she held a hand up to stop the boys and just took Valerie's hand to get up. Once she was up, steadily on her own two feet she raised two victorious arms, happily, as if she'd just won the very World Martial Arts Tournament. With amusement, Valerie reached down for Josie's notebook figuring the girl would say something right at this moment, if she could. Josie noticed her picking it up through the corner of her eyes and reached for it eagerly, scribbling as fast as she could.

**I can walk!**

She wrote, showing it to them all with a grin making Bra laughed, at the obvious statement. Josie slowly took baby steps around the roof, stopping in front of Trunks beaming, gesturing at her legs happily. He nodded with a chuckle.

"Yes, I see." He smiled. "…..Now, do you mind if I carry you?" She frowned at the question, nodding up to ask, 'why?'. "We're going to the market Josie, It's no more than a few blocks away and we are too lazy to walk or drive." He explained, as he scooped her up. Her eyes lit up with understanding and she nodded her consent even though he'd already picked her up, gripping tighter when Trunks easily went up into the air, knowing the others would catch up.

Goten watched them go with wide eyes, "WAIT!" He shouted, looking at the two girls he was left with to carry. Trunks stopped high in the air, turning to look at his friend. "…" Goten stared at him, worriedly. "Your…You're not really going to make me carry both of them, are you?" Trunks and Josie grinned, watching in amusement from high in the air as Goten ducked and yelped as he was smacked repeatedly by Bra and Valerie.

…

An hour later, in the first floor dinning room, everyone gathered around the dinning room. All except for one, predictably, the Prince of all Saiyans was late. Everyone was grumbling, except for Josie who doodled, distractedly on her seemingly new best friend, her handy dandy notebook, whom she had playfully nicknamed, Blue, after the cartoon series called blues clues. Josie grinned at the thought of the children's show back home.

"..Bulma, can we have some of that ice cream now?" Goten asked, hungrily, as he stared in the direction of the kitchen where all the ice cream they had purchased was now stored.

"Goten, of course not." Bulma scolded. "We're going to eat together first, whether the Prince of all Saiyans decides to grace us with his presence or not." She muttered angrily.

"What the heck is that?" Trunks asked curiously, leaning closer to Josie's doodle. An incredibly childish looking drawing of a dog, with a salt and pepper beside it. Josie frowned at Trunks, putting the notebook on her lap and away from his prying eyes. He smiled at the disapproval in her eyes and he could easily hear her scolding him out loud in his mind.

They turned back towards the room when they heard someone come-in and saw Vegeta strolling in casually. He sat down at his usual seat and began to eat without a word to anyone, ignoring the stares from all those around the table and the heavy silence in the room. Josie glared around the room at everyone contributing to the awkwardness. She quickly scribbled on her notebook, in large letters, and knocked loudly on the table, holding up the sign for Vegeta who lazily looked up, annoyed.

_VEG, WELCOME TO DINNER!_

Vegeta rolled his eyes, going back to his food, mumbling an almost intelligible,

"Amazing." Josie's eyes light up and she fought to keep a grin off her face.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

_He'd thought he'd been the luckiest man alive when he was told that two residents from the Brief's household would be attending. He thought he'd finally see class, some truly sophisticated people and instead these two kids? He sighed as he entered the kitchen, throwing his notepad to the side, and loosening up his cravat. He was willing to bet anything that they weren't going to tip all that well either.. _

**End Sneak Peek**

* * *

**Note: **Shortest Chapter I've posted up to this point and will probably remain as the smallest chapter. This was hard to transition from the old material into the re-written version but it's right before another of my favorite chapters, so I kept it - not to mention! It has my favorite Vegeta one liner in there! (The Amazing bit) I've always been aware of how important that one moment and that one word from Vegeta meant to Josie but I realized I never really displayed the importance of it in the written story, only in my mind. So I tried to put a little more importance to it this time around : )


	15. Chapter 15: Something Tells Me

**Disclaimer: **Don't own DB/Z/GT, neither do I own the two songs I used in this chapter. Wait, or was it three? It was three: J Dilla's "Nothing Like this", Georg Philipp Telemann's Concerto for violin, strings & continuo in, D major, TWV 51:D9: I. Con Contento played (Performed by Orfeo Baroque Orchestra), and El Ten Eleven's "Hot Cakes".

**Dude Where's My World:**

**Revised**

**Chapter 15: **Something Tells Me

Josie walked down a hallway in the teenagers wing of the house, humming in her mind, hands swaying lightly in front of her as she turned a corner. She lazily made her way to Valerie's bedroom, turning the knob of the room, seeing Valerie sitting up on her bed, her legs splayed in front of her, earphones blasting on her head, while she calmly drew in a sketchbook. Josie sighed lightly, leaning on the doorway. Valerie heard the small noise and looked up in time to catch Josie shaking her head. She raised an eyebrow at that, curious as to what she'd done to earn Josie's disapproval now. She grinned, nodding upwards, as if asking, 'what's up?'.

Josie rolled her eyes, and stepped into the room, climbing onto the bed and taking the materials from Valerie's hands. Valerie let them go, without a fuss while Josie set them to the side. Josie had not failed to notice Valerie's increase in patience when it came to her, and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about it yet. She shrugged off the thought, as she turned back to Valerie, climbing back on the bed and kneeling behind her and started to mess with her hair.

"…Um, dude?" Valerie questioned, confused. "What are you doing?" At that moment Bra came through the door, turning to the door and closing it behind herself. She smiled when she noticed Josie.

"Oh good, you got started already." Bra said happily, bringing her hands to show them what she was holding. A large make-up bag. Valerie cringed.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait." She started to back up into Josie, who only backed up with her. "What the hell is this for?" Valerie asked, miserably, as she noticed Bra start to set her bag on Valerie's desk and start to take out everything in the bag from cover-up, to blush, to bronzer, eyeliner, mascara, everything. "W-what did I do? Why?" Valerie asked, a whine to her voice, as she tried to look back at Josie helplessly.

"Here." Bra said to Josie, lightly throwing a comb at Josie who easily caught it with one hand and started to run it through Valerie's hair. Valerie's hand immediately came up, putting it over the top part of her head to ease Josie's tugging comb. Josie slowed her hand and combed more gently, patting Valerie's shoulder comfortingly.

"Come-on! One of you tell me what's going on?" Bra turned her body towards Valerie, planting her weight on one hand that rested on Valerie's desk, her other hand on her hip, as she gave Valerie a look.

"You're kidding me right?" Bra asked dryly, not sounding terribly amused. Valerie looked at the ground, trying furiously to remember whatever it was that she was supposed to be remembering. Bra sighed loudly at Valerie's inability to remember such an important day. She lazily looked over at the amused Josie. "Josie, help me out with this one, please?" Bra asked, gesturing for Josie to take the floor.

Josie nodded, scooting off the bed and quickly straightening out her light blue jeans and light orange form fitting t-shirt. She stood in the middle of the room and gestured at her own eyes, Valerie's, then her own eyes again, to make sure she had Valerie's full attention.

She gestured a tall person, then took her hair out of it's high pony tail and started pulling up chunks of it in gravity defying directions, planting on a goofy smile. Valerie merely tilted her head at Josie's antics, confused, thinking now that she could see why Vegeta would constantly claim that they were some kids high on some drugs. "You're some…crazy monkey?" She guessed, confused, as Josie bounced up and down.

Josie rolled her eyes at the wrong guess and stopped, leaning her head to the side to really think over the guess. It wasn't necessarily a wrong answer… Saiyans were kind of like- she jumped when Bra smacked her arm. Bra had been watching her and had seen her considering the answer, and she was not amused, she was no damn monkey. Josie rubbed her arm, sheepishly, shrugging, as she turned back to Valerie doing the gestures to a kamehameha.

"Goku?" Valerie asked, confused as to how he had anything to do with make-up. Josie shook her head and gestured a little bit shorter, to imply younger. "..Gohan?" Valerie offered. Josie shook her head once more and gestured shorter, at her shoulder level. "…Goten is not that short." Valerie said. Josie smiled at her finally getting it. Josie gestured at that height level again, then at her held up index finger, indicating that that was Goten; she then gestured to Valerie as her right hand's, briefly gesturing the height of her hip level, making Valerie roll her eyes. Josie grinned, having been unable to help but briefly poke fun at Valerie's height.

She shook her head, gesturing that Valerie was her other held up index finger. She brought the two fingers together and implied kissing with them. Valerie's eyes widened as she realized now that she and Bra were talking about getting her ready for her date with Goten, which couldn't possibly be today. Valerie desperately glanced at the calendar on another wall and she did the math in her head as to how many days were supposed to be left before all of that, and after a minute, her wide eyes slowly turned back to Josie's twisted puppet fingers. "No!" Josie shrugged with a smile.

…

An hour later, Trunks was in the common area of his and his sister's shared wing of the house, sitting at the desk in the space, looking over some figures on his computer. He'd been very focused, squinting at the screen when loud shouts and thumps sounded in the hallway, he looked over just in time to see Valerie rushing into the room, half of her hair in a pig tail, the other loose and wild as she burst into the room. She desperately looked around for somewhere to hide, her eyes barely registering his presence before she ducked behind a couch. A second later Josie and Bra appeared in the room, looking around, each holding a cosmetic in their hands. Bra sighed, fisted hand at her hip.

"Val, come-on, this is so childish! We're just trying to help."

"Well I don't want it!" Valerie shouted out, cursing a second later when she realized she'd given herself away. Bra smiled and walked around the couch and picked up Valerie, putting her over her shoulder and starting to walk back. She didn't like to display such feats of strength - she felt quite unfeminine when she did that - but this was a necessary evil at the moment. Valerie wriggled and complained as Bra wordlessly took her back out with Josie watching them go with amusement down the hallway.

"_Damn it Bra, when did you become Josie? Let me go! This is ridiculous- I don't even think Josie was ever this bad - or at the very damn least I know she couldn't have caveman dragged me like this! Let me go, you half Saiyan crazy girl!" _Josie heard Bra retort something back about it all being for her own good, before a door slammed. She glanced over, when she felt eyes on her and smiled at the questioning look Trunks was giving her.

"..Is that all for their date?" He asked, surprised. Josie nodded with a grin, giving him a wave before going back into the chaos. All Trunks could think as he heard Valerie's bedroom door open again and the shouting became audible again, was that he was very grateful to not be a girl.

…

"Hmm." Bra said critically, as she stood off to the side, studying her finished project. Josie stood beside her, her index finger to her chin, her elbow supported by her other arm. "What do you think, Miss Josie?" Still in a snobbish woman character, Josie held her chin a little higher and with distaste circled around Valerie studying her from her wavy hair, to her loose white, long shirt with a bit of wear and tear to it, to make it look more rebellious, underneath that were black leather pants, and lastly black faux-patent boots.

"Stop that!" Valerie said, impatiently waving away Josie's attentions, pulling away from them both, giving them a glare. "What the hell is it with you two and leather?" She demanded, pulling in frustrating at the material that covered her legs. Bra shrugged with a smile.

"We balanced out the uncomfortable pants with the comfortable - and might I add, quite stylish white shirt." Bra countered back.

"What-damn-ever." Valerie muttered, sitting back on the bed, in a huff, cringing at the noise her leather made. Bra shrugged as she turned back to Josie, smiling.

"Did she always throw temper tantrums this way?" She asked rhetorically, Josie grinned, crossing her arms, she nodded.

"I hate you all." Valerie said simply, as she looked down at her pants and continued to tug at the material. They heard a knock at the door, and Josie walked over, opening the door for Trunks who came in smiling. He studied Valerie briefly, giving her a sympathetic look.

"Uncomfortable?" He asked, figuring. She nodded, standing up unhappily.

"Very."

"I'm sorry." He said smiling. "Just wanted to let you know that Goten is here." Valerie looked up at Bra who stood a foot or two away from her.

"I take back what I said, I don't hate this one." She said, indicating Trunks with an index finger, feigning indifference as she desperately tried to focus on her annoyance with the girls instead of the raging butterflies that were let loose in her belly the moment Trunks announced Goten's presence.

"Come-on then." Bra said, pulling Valerie up, as she looked her over quickly once more, she grabbed her bracelets of all different colors from the table nearby and putting them on Valerie's wrist. "There. Can never go wrong with accessories." She said smiling victoriously. "You approve Josie?" Josie watched from the side, studying her friend, she finally gave a thumbs up and a smile.

"Good, now that we've got her approval, let's get moving, we don't want poor nervous Goten to think that you're backing out here." Trunks said ushering her towards the door. "That'd break his little heart and then what chance would you two crazy kids have at-" Valerie's head snapped towards Josie, glaring daggers at her.

"When the hell was it decided that you loosing your voice meant that they'd take over your job of making my life miserable?" Josie simply grinned. No such conspiracy had taken place behind her back, but heck, Valerie didn't need to know that. Valerie rolled her eyes at Josie's lack of response and her obvious amusement. "I take back what I took back." She said, giving them all the bird. "I absolutely hate you all." She marched out of the room, hands fisted at her sides as if she was ready to head into war. The remaining three teens in the room looked at each other for a minute as they heard Valerie muttering to herself down the hallway, Bra snickered, and then Trunks joined, both Briefs howling with laughter while Josie watched over them grinning.

…

Valerie walked down the hallway, again, trying to hold onto her annoyance, trying quite hard to be nonchalant about this day in which she was going to happen to be hanging out with Goten without any of the others. That didn't necessarily make it a date though - she didn't have to think of it that way, why should she? It was just two friends, who happened to be of the opposite sex, hanging out, there nothing unusual about that. She smiled as she attempted to go down the stairs, trying to hold onto that mentality.

Goten looked up as Valerie came down the stairs and a smile instantaneously came to him. He knew that the origins of this date were a bit sketchy, but all he really knew was that he was getting to hang out with a pretty cool girl today, and he had absolutely **no** problem with that.

"Hey Val." Goten greeted with a smile. "You look really nice." She ducked her head.

"Thanks." She mumbled, embarrassed. "Ready to do this then?" She asked quickly, going past him to the door. He blinked, surprised, and nodded, following after her out the door.

Going to Goten's borrowed car had been an embarrassing hassle, he had tried to open the door for her, and she had opened it herself and started to get in before she realized what he was trying to do. She backed up out of the car and closed the door quickly again, mortified and unsure of what to do. Goten had quietly opened the door back up for her and waited patiently for her to get in again, before closing the door, fighting not to grin at how flushed Val was and he briefly wondered, as he got into the driver's seat, if he was going to see her skin color go back to it's normal hue at all before the night was over.

"Val?" Goten asked tentatively, as he turned on the car, she startled, looking over at him.

"Yeah?" She asked. He smiled, pointing towards the radio.

"Sorry, just wanted to tell you, you can change it to whatever you want." He offered, as he took the car off park and started to make his way onto the street. She nodded, nervously changing the channels, unsure where to leave it at, completely in the dark about what his music tastes could possibly be.

"…C-can we just listen to one of your CD's?" Valerie asked tentatively. He glanced over with a smile.

"Sure." He offered, pressing a button on the stereo to play the CD he already had in there. He turned it up a little as he took another turn, an insisting and attention grabbing beat starting up.

_All I need in, my, life is_

_There, is, no-thing like this_

_I never felt, quite, like this_

_All I need in, my life, life is_

_There, is, no-thing like this_

Valerie blinked down in surprise at the car's stereo, then over at Goten, all shyness and awkwardness forgotten. "…What is this?" She asked.

"I don't remember the name." He said with a smile. "If it's not good, you can go ahead and-"

"No, it's great, we have something just like it at home. I love this." She said honestly. He grinned as he stared back at the road, having noticed from the corner of his eye as she stopped leaning away from him and now sat up excitedly, rhythmically thumping her fingers on her lap to the song.

_You turn my, nights, into days_

_You show me, the, light uh-huh_

_Gotta, have, you right away_

_I never felt, quite, like this_

_All I need in, my life is._

_There is, no-thing like this_

_I never felt, quite, like this_

Goten pulled into a large restaurant, stopping in front of it, where valet was already coming around to open the door for them both. Valerie looked over at Goten, startled, when she noticed where they were, and all he had time to do before his door was opened for him, was shrug embarrassed and quickly stuff something into his pocket from the car. He handed his keys to the valet and went around to Valerie, offering his hand. She quickly took It, uncomfortable once more with the place. He leaned down a little.

"Don't worry." He whispered. "We won't be here very long." She nodded, and quietly remained by his side as they entered the restaurant.

"I don't get why Bra dressed me up this way if she knew we were coming here, I'm so not dressed correctly." She mumbled to herself.

"This way." A man with a French accent in a black suit directed, leading them straight through the restaurant to the second floor where their was a completely isolated level. The room was spacious and a somewhat deep brown with traces of burgundy on the walls with candles all throughout, making the atmosphere quite romantic, if not a bit forced. A large white marble stone fireplace that had intricate designs on it, carpets strewn around the room and vases throughout the room filled with roses, Iris, Sunflowers, Gardenia, Lilacs, Tulips, and many more. Beautiful paintings adorning the walls, and a lovely two door balcony overlooking the vista; while in the background Georg Philipp Telemann's Concerto for violin, strings & continuo in , D major, TWV 51:D9: I. Con Contento played (Performed by Orfeo Baroque Orchestra).

Their waiter helped them both sit down and all Valerie could do was groan in displeasure as she looked at the over the top surroundings. Goten smiled, sympathetically.

"To start your evening off would you care to try some of our finest-"

"No, water is fine for me." Valerie muttered, putting an elbow on the table and her cheek unhappily resting on her fist, looking up at the waiter. He startled at her unmannered demeanor and cleared his throat, nodding once quickly, and looking over at the gentlemen, holding his pen and notepad ready.

"And for you, sir?" He asked. Goten ignored the waiter and grinned at Valerie.

"Water for me too, man." Goten said happily, finally glancing up at the man with his happy grin, giving him a friendly pat on the arm for chuckles, knowing how ruffled the too stuck up waiter would be.

And yup, he was.

"I-urg." The waiter, straightened up his composure, and bowed briefly before scurrying off. He'd thought he'd been the luckiest man alive when he was told that two residents from the Briefs household would be attending. He thought he'd finally see class - some truly sophisticated people, and instead he got these two kids? He sighed as he entered the kitchen, throwing his notepad to the side and loosening up his cravat.

He was willing to bet anything that they weren't going to tip all that well either.

…

Josie sat, crossed legged in the living room floor, wearing light blue jeans, no shoes or socks, and a turquoise thin jacket. She was bored out of her mind, wondering what Valerie and Goten were up too, as she lazily blew bubbles from a little dispenser she'd managed to find in Bra's room. Trunks sat on a lazy-boy chair, feet up, mainly watching Josie's bubbles as opposed to the movie, a little bored. Bra was the only one of the three who was avidly watching the film, as she lay curled up on the couch.

After a minute or two, Bra blinked when she felt a crumpled paper hit her head. She leaned her head to the side glaring at Josie immediately, knowing she had to be the culprit. "Bad habit you're developing there, kid..." Bra muttered to Josie, as she lazily leaned on the ground to pick up the paper, knowing Josie had more than likely wrote something on it. She sighed as she straightened it out and managed to read.

_Where did you send Val and Goten?_

Bra smiled at that, picturing what a lovely time those two must be having at the most beautiful restaurant in the city, secluded with a beautiful balcony overseeing the city and night sky. She glanced out the window noticing that it wasn't quite night yet, but it would be soon and then Valerie and Goten could dance in the moonlight…

Bra blinked when another crumpled paper hit her on the forehead. Her head snapped towards Josie glaring daggers at the girl who grinned sheepishly, holding her hands up in an apologetic manner. Bra uncrumpled the second note and her eyes narrowed further at the fact that this note didn't even say anything. She rolled her eyes, realizing this was just Josie trying to get her attention again after she'd let her mind wander off and begin daydreaming about Valerie and Goten's marvelous date...

"DON'T YOU DARE." Bra shouted at Josie, eyes suddenly fastened on her as Josie raised another crumpled paper. Startled, Josie lowered her hand, her eyes wide. Crazy Saiyan girl with her crazy Saiyan abilities, Josie thought with displeasure at being chastised, pouting at the floor, as Trunks laughed beside her.

…

"Did you notice, now we're the plague of the earth to this guy?" Valerie asked, amused, as she noticed that each time the waiter came and left he seemed to come back looking more and more dejected and unhappy.

"Yeah." Goten agreed grinning. They'd been here half an hour already and he was glad to see that Valerie was loosening up to the experience a little more. She'd seem to caught on to what was making this evening bearable to Goten, which was, making light out of the odd/awkward situation. Enjoying it however way they could. And right now, that way was through making their waiter very miserable. Valerie glanced at the door through which the waiter had left and then at the surrounding scene, distracted.

"…You don't want to dance by the terrace to this, do you?" Goten asked, cringing a little, but knowing he should probably offer.

"Oh hell no." Valerie said simply, surprised eyes coming to his own smiling ones. "This music, no offense, not my thing." He nodded in agreement, relieved.

"Where do you think they have the CD player with this stuff?" Goten asked, looking around. Valerie looked around as well.

"Might not be a CD player." She reminded. He nodded, but stood up none the less and looked around calmly for where the music was coming from. He found the culprit at the farthest corner of the wall to them, high up in the ceiling. He smiled over at Valerie.

"Hope you don't mind." He said, putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out a CD. She blinked, happily surprised.

"Not at all." She said smiling, wondering when the heck he'd had the time to bring that in. He threw her a quick grin and flew towards the wall. with Valerie watching in amusement, as he flipped himself over so he hovered upside down with his legs crossed underneath him to give the impression that he was sitting on the ceiling while he pried open the vent speaker.

"Jackpot!" He said happily, holding his hand with the CD over his head.

"Hurry, Goten, I think I hear someone coming." Valerie said, glancing from the door to Goten who moved a little faster. He quickly replaced the CD and put it all back. Pushing his feet off the ceiling and zooming across from her, sitting down just as the waiter came back in with the appetizers. He heard a slow song start up while he served their meal and the waiter looked around, unsettled.

"I…uh, excuse me, a second sir and mademoiselle." He quickly mumbled, rushing off. Goten and Valerie burst out laughing for a few minutes, stopping whenever he'd peak his head in, looking around again for the source of the new music, muttering. He knew where the music was played from but it seemed impossible for anyone to have reached that impossible height without a ladder to manually change it, the way they had too.

"Aw, I love this guy." Valerie mumbled happily, wiping a tear of laughter away. Goten grinned, glad to see her so much more loosened up and finding himself immeasurably pleased that _he_ was the reason she was having such a good time.

They settled on some easy chatter while they ate their appetizers and just as they settled on conversation though, the waiter would interrupt them, looking quite annoyed. At this point, the waiter knew they'd done something to that music box, but how they'd gotten it done was absolutely beyond him. After the last interruption, Valerie looked around, no longer interested in making this place work; This clearly wasn't their scene and no amount of effort on their part would make it theirs. This wasn't the way this date should be going, so Valerie began to brainstorm, a smile forming on her face when an idea began to develop. "You know, I was just looking around all these flowers, thinking..."

"What were you thinking?" Goten asked amused, as he threw a mozzarella stick into his mouth, like popcorn.

"I was thinking, that with all the candles lit up here, this is completely a hazard. These flowers can easily catch, and that's a stupid risk to take." She explained, trying to bite her lower lip in order not to laugh. Goten didn't hold back and laughed out loud, as he pushed his chair back and reached around the table offering his hand to her as El Ten Eleven's "Hot Cakes" started to play in the room.

"I agree," He informed with a glint of mischief shining in his obsidian eyes. "We should put out all this fires waiting to happen." He recommended with a grin. She nodded, a similar grin on her lips, as she stood up with his help, and after a moment where they held each other's eyes with merriment in them, the two abruptly separated running quickly in opposite directions and blowing out each and every candle throughout that room.

The ones on the table, the ones hanging on the walls, the individual candlesticks that reached the ground. Valerie raced past one, backtracked when she noticed it, and quickly blew it out before rushing off to another one. Both she and Goten crossing each other's paths briefly while they went on their smokey the bear mission. Goten quickly ran up the wall and quickly blew out one, before doing a back-flip and landing back on the ground. Valerie stopped what she was doing and looked over at him her eyes narrowing.

"Show off." She accused making him laugh while he went for another one.

The room dimmed considerably within those minutes and Valerie slowly came to a stop in the middle of the room, breathing somewhat heavily, a thin layer of perspiration on her skin, her face turned upward to look at the chandelier above her. The thing was beautiful, and like the rest of the room, completely functioned with candles. She looked down and saw Goten grinning at her as he too came to the center of the room, a few feet away.

"Assistance?" She asked Goten smiling. He nodded, going to her, picking her up quickly and easily tossing her in the air. She laughed as she went up, quickly blowing out the candles up there. She landed easily in his arms and he slowly set her down.

"We did good." She commended, as she smacked her hands clean, satisfaction written across her grinning face.

"We did." He agreed. "Shame though." He said, his eyes narrowed.

She looked at him worriedly. "What?"

"To waste such beautiful flowers in here." Goten began to explain. "They should be outside, planted in the earth where they could thrive and enjoy the sun. Not stuck in some stuffy room for some rich people to ignore." Valerie nodded in agreement as she picked up a handful of lilacs from a vase and went out the terrace doors. She looked over the railing where sidewalks filled with busy people walked through the night city streets.

"This won't exactly be planting them back on the ground.." She admitted, throwing them over the railing.

"But it's better than being stuck in here." He argued for her, he said smiling widely. He disappeared inside and grabbed as many as he could manage, setting them by the terrace ground.

"Not to mention how much it's going to piss off what's his name." Valerie added with a grin as she scooped up flowers and began sprinkling them over the railing, making Goten laugh. He soon followed her example, the two throwing a seemingly never ending shower of flowers to the people filled streets below. Valerie leaned forward smiling as Goten threw the last of them. He leaned his forearms on the railing watching with content as the flowers continued their slow descend downward where people began to take notice and kids happily caught them.

Goten glanced to his left, seeing Valerie leaning over as she enjoyed the view of the descending flowers. She finally felt eyes on her and turned to him, surprised at the bright smile that flashed across the handsome youngest son of Goku, before he wordlessly handed her the only flower he'd held on to, a beautiful solitary daisy. She smiled in reply, fighting hard not to blush as she quietly took it from him.

The two went back into the grand room and Valerie's eyes widened when she noticed two candles they'd missed by the fireplace. She ran to them and blew them both out, standing in front of the fireplace. Goten calmly came to stand beside her while the two quietly studied the large burning fireplace. The whole room was now in complete darkness except for this singular source of light. They looked at each other, the rise of the fire lighting up their faces every few seconds.

"..What do you think, Goten?" Valerie asked. The question silently asking if they should also take out the fireplace while they were at it. Goten chuckled briefly, as he looked around the room - they'd really done a number on it already, without the flowers or hundreds of candles lit up, the room looked quite desolate and gloomy.

"I think." He started, as he turned back towards the fire. "That this presents a hazard, just like any of the candles we put out earlier. We wouldn't be good citizens unless we ensured the safety of this establishment, as well as of the people in this building, if we did not put it out. Now." He said grinning. She nodded, grinning back, thrilled with the answer.

She went to the wine bottle the man had brought and put it on the ground, letting it roll away, carefully putting her flower down on the table and brought the ice bucket that it came with, over to Goten; who took the bucket from her hands and with a tiny blast melted the ice into sloshing water. Goten held one side of the bucket while Valerie held on to the other and in one swift motion the two swung the bucket back and then forward towards the fire, quickly extinguishing it.

"Good job." Valerie congratulated Goten in complete darkness, a smile clear in her voice.

"You too." Goten replied back quietly, a smile on his face.

And that was when they heard a door open, and slam closed. "**YOU DAMN KIDS!**" The waiter shouted furiously.

There had been hundreds of candles in this room and the infuriated waiter who tugged at his disheveled hair was trying desperately to figure out how they had blown them ALL. And the fireplace?

"Uh oh." Goten muttered. Valerie felt someone take her hand firmly and start to tug her towards the terrace doors. She quickly took the hint and the two ran towards the open doors, taking off into the sky. Goten turned them back to look down at where the balcony was, the waiter coming out shaking his fist, angrily shouting unintelligible things up at them. Valerie shifted in Goten's arms, as she desperately looked for something.

Amused, Goten asked. "Looking for this?" As he held out the beautiful daisy he'd given her inside. Valerie took the daisy, sighing with relief, looked up at Goten with a mixture of gratitude and amazement. Goten merely grinned back at her and cupped a hand around his mouth, as he turned his attention back to their waiter. "YOU CAN KEEP THE CD!" Goten shouted back in friendly offering,giving the man a goodbye wave, as he zoomed off with a laughing Valerie in his arms.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

"_Good call on finding this tree." He said looking up the tree, studying it. He nodded approvingly. "It should suit our spying purposes just fine. Just next time though, I don't recommend using your face to find it." _

**End Sneak Peek:**

* * *

**Note:** The first date! I didn't show it the first time around but I really felt a need to create a first date for Val and this chapter came out. I recall this being a heck of a lot of fun to write and the music in it was so awesome to listen to while writing it. Ja ne! Princess Geta.


	16. Chapter 16: Sitting in a tree

**Disclaimer: **Don't own.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 16: **Sitting in a tree..

_Where else were they supposed to go?_

Bra put down the note that Josie had just slid across the table from her. The two girls had decided to go to an ice cream parlor, while Trunks shadowed his mom for some late afternoon work related things; And both girls figured going out would at least be something to do to take their mind off of Goten and Valerie's date. They'd been gone for quite a few hours now, it was a little past eight according to Josie's watch.

"They're fine." Bra said putting Josie's wrist down gently back on the table and scooting Josie's chocolate ice cream cup a little closer to her, in hopes of tantalizing her. "They were supposed to take a carriage ride in the state park." Josie froze, spoon full of ice cream inches away from her mouth. She looked at Bra for a few seconds and once she realized Bra wasn't kidding, she dropped her spoon back in her bowl, pushed it aside, put her arms on the table and leaned her head on them.

Bra watched her friend's shoulder's shaking with confusion, was she laughing or crying? She scratched her head in confusion. "What?" She asked with a pout, having the distinct feeling that she was being laughed at.

…

"Seriously. What were they thinking?" Valerie asked Goten, as she unhappily shook off the ice from her arms. Goten chuckled as he quickly wiped her arms down and offered her his jacket, putting it around her shoulders gently. Grateful, Valerie took it, quickly walking away from the ice skating rink alongside him.

"I'm sorry again! I promise I'll get some money to replace that!" Goten shouted back, sheepishly. Valerie glanced back as well, face beat red.

The night had had so many disasters already - they should have known better than to risk the last plan for this date that Josie and Bra had set up; because of those two Valerie and Goten had gone on a carriage ride and were now fleeing the ice skating rink in the middle of the park.

"Wait, how are you going to get money to replace-" Goten shook his head quickly, nudging Valerie to not ask any questions and to just walk faster.

…

"Josie?" Trunks asked amused, from his spot on the couch, lounging lazily, as he watched Josie pace back and forth in the common area. She glanced at him briefly, disinterested in his amusement, before going back to her pacing. "Come-on Josie, it's only ten." Trunks laughed, looking over at the clock with a smile. "Theirs no reason to worry." Josie rolled her eyes, plopping back down on the computer chair and erased what she'd written on there earlier in the wordpad document, and wrote out:

_Shouldn't they be back by now though?_

She turned to him, frowning, tapping the screen softly with her index finger.

"No." He said softly leaning forward with a smile. "It's a date," Her reminded. "Take it as a good sign that they're out this long." She looked to the side, mulling that reassurance over and finally shrugged, turning back to the computer, fingers twitching eagerly above the keys as she tried to figure out how to word her next thought

_I guess so. But_

She turned back to him and looked at him expectantly. Trunks scratched his head at a loss with the word 'but' and how she'd just cut it off there without any further comment when she was clearly indicating that there was more. He shrugged his shoulders up at her, confused. Josie only continued to stare at his muddled expression with a smile.

"But..?" He repeated out loud, hoping that would help him puzzle it out. Josie sighed, getting off the chair and going to him, tugging at his sleeves for him to get up. He did so quietly and stared down at her, right in front of him, smiling up at him. He blinked when she mouthed the words, 'Let's go'. "Where?" He asked dumbly. She quickly skipped back to the computer.

_To Valerie and Goten. Let's go._

His eyes widened when he read that, and he immediately shook his head.

"No, Josie, they're on a date." He argued.

_If they're having a good time and all is well, we can turn around and come right back, but I'm just curious to see what they're doing._

He read the words once more, hesitating, before turning back to Josie who looked happy and eager beside it, practically bouncing in her excitement to do something mischievous.

He smiled.

"Fine." He sighed. "Let's go." She clapped excitedly, following after him down the hallway, down the stairs, and finally out the front door.

When he held out his arms, she easily jumped into them and they took off in another instant in the direction of Goten's ki. "He's at his house." Trunks explained to Josie as they made their way to the Son residence. Josie didn't pay much attention to his words, as she kept herself in as tight a ball as possible, trying to stop herself from looking down at the tiny cities below. She didn't think she could ever fully get used to this feeling; the sound of wind slapping against their bodies, their clothes flapping wildly, the stinging as her hair slapped her face angrily.

And yet. Cutting through the air with nothing but the arms of another person standing between you and nothing felt... heavenly. She was flying. She smiled, pressing her lips and nose to his chest to block out as much of the air as possible, as she took a deep contented breath.

Trunks noticed her peaceful expression and became quiet to let her enjoy, what he knew, was still a relatively new sensation to her. He realized then that he took this ability for granted most of his life and the thought caught him off guard. He'd had been able to fly for as long as he could remember now.

He couldn't imagine to not be able to use it.

"I'll teach you to fly sometime, okay?" He offered, seemingly out of no where. Trunks could see the question in her eyes as to whether he really meant it and he smiled, nodding. "Yeah. I promise, I'll teach you." He assured, gratified instantly as herarms wrapped around him tightly in delight, just before they started to make their descent. She felt the change in the air and looked downward, watching the small house out in the wilderness get bigger and bigger until Trunks finally landed softly, helping her get back on her own two feet.

He gestured for her to be quiet and she rolled her eyes at the gesture. What was she going to do? Shout and give away their position? Talk and give away their position? _Whisper_ and give away their position? Their was nothing she could do, nothing that would give away their- She bumped into a tree, lost in her ranting thoughts, and fell back on the ground loudly. Josie instantly tried to simultaneously rub her face and backside at the same time, frowning at the tree in front of her, as she remained seated on the ground wondering what the hell had just happened. Trunks fought hard not to burst out laughing and slowly made his way toward her, unable to help but grin as Josie glared at him murderously, figuring he had only something smart to say to her right now.

Knowing her thoughts, Trunks still crouched down beside her and cleared his throat, big grin on his face as he put his mouth close to her ear.

"So much for keeping quiet, little lady." He whispered, chuckling as she whacked him in annoyance, quickly pushing herself up with both hands, turning to continue to glare at him as she dusted herself off. Trunks couldn't help but keep grinning as he too straightened, looking up briefly at a window and approaching her, tugging her close by the sleeve.

"Their in his room upstairs, I feel her now too." She seemed surprised at that and immediately looked up to where a half open window was on the second floor. "Good call on finding this tree." He said looking up the tree, studying it and finally nodding with approval. "It should suit our spying purposes just fine." He confirmed patting it, before he easily climbed it up, getting up on a sturdy branch teen ten feet off the ground with his legs dangling off one side. Testing its ability to hold weight, he nodded with satisfaction, letting himself drop backward, easily holding himself to the tree with his legs alone. He dangled upside down, smiling at the glaring girl, unable to help but add. "Just next time though, I don't recommend using your face to find it." He grinned, ducking back up when he saw her hand move to hit him. He looked down at her flipping him off and almost laughed out loud, but bit the inside of his cheek, grinning down at her.

Trunks waited a minute until he thought she'd calmed down sufficiently and tentatively began to lean down again.

"You feeling a little calmer-whoa!" He came quickly back up, as she swung at him again. "Josie!" He hissed. "Calm down! We can't do this unless we cut out the-" He saw her shoulders visibly relax as she took a deep breath and smiled at him, giving him a thumbs up, to which he smiled back guardedly. "Alright, truce?" He offered. She merely smiled at him innocently.

Trunks suspiciously started to lean down again, until he was dangling upside down again and Josie came a little closer, glancing briefly at the their target window, before looking back at the lavender haired teenage heir hanging off of a tree like a 7 year old boy. Her smile became more genuine for a moment, thrilled that she was helping him enjoy himself. He glared at her openly now, paranoia blooming when she continued towards him, undaunted. She stopped in front of him, tilting her head slightly to see him the correct way, poking his nose fondly for a quick moment, before latching on to his middle and throwing her own body weight down, yanking him down with all her strength. Her feet dangled off the ground for a moment and she landed in a heap on the ground with him, but it had been well worth it to catch HIM off guard.

Down he came, falling on his back, with Josie thrown over his stomach. She raised herself up with her arms and grinned down at him as he slowly leaned up on his elbows, glaring daggers at her as he recovered from the shock. "You satisfied?" He demanded in an annoyed whisper, snorting with laughter when she eagerly nodded, getting up to her knees in a moment as she dusted the dirt off her hands.

Trunks got up muttering to himself about them making too much noise, as he made his way up the tree again, offering only a hand to get her up this time. Shame on him if she managed to fool him twice, he thought. Josie only spared his hand a brief glance, as she eyed the tree with a new sense of determination, trying to figure out her best shot at climbing this thing on her own. Having apparently a plan, she began her difficult climb, insisting on struggling up the tree herself without any assistance from him. She always found new ways to catch him off guard, he realized with some admiration, shaking his head so that she would not see the smile playing at the edge of his lips.

She finally came up to where he was and smiled at him, very pleased with herself, as she caught her breathe again, noticing the look on Trunks face too. She grinned, wiping the sweat off her forehead as the two stared at one another, smiling.

Trunks cleared his throat, breaking the eye contact, as he looked up at the window and leaned towards her, "Come-on." He finally whispered. "We have to get up higher to reach his window, you go on first." She nodded, kneeling and cautiously reaching up for the next branch, wobbling slightly as her foot scooted to replace her knee so that she could stand; immediately she felt his hand press against her lower back, the muscle behind that hand - that could demolish buildings with a fist, gently supporting her. "I got you." He promised, Trunks watchful eye taking in every move she made as she went higher.

Josie grunted as she pulled herself to the branch he'd pointed at earlier, scooting towards the window, stopping when Trunks pulled at her shirt gently back. She looked over her shoulder at him, pausing as he came up behind her. "Go slowly, I can't exert any energy. If I do, Goten will be able to tell I'm out here and we'll be toast." Nodding, Josie continued forward, grateful when she got next to the house, pressing her flat hands against the cool exterior of the house to use it for additional support, ignoring Trunks hand inch around her waist as she raised herself up to her tip toes to look inside the tall window.

"_Come-on Goten. Let me just try this on you, I promise it won't hurt._" Valerie pleaded.

"_Yeah right_!" Goten snorted.

"_Fine fine, but if I can just…get you to stop moving like that - where did you learn how to do that..?_" Valerie asked surprised.

"_I've got some tricks._"

"That's cheating. Hold still while..I just…ooh, YES!" Valerie shouted happily. Josie quickly came back down, second guessing this entire idea, as she threw a nervous look over her shoulder at Trunks who couldn't help but look a little disturbed himself. He caught her nervous look and he shrugged, assuming that their minds had to be playing tricks on them - there was no way that - he blinked as Josie quickly rose again, determined to look inside. Josie reeled back, shocked, Trunks quickly having to stand up behind her to stop her from falling back. Worried, he looked over her shoulder, blinking in surprise.

Valerie and Goten on his bed together. Playing Video Games.

Josie pressed her hand immediately to her mouth, a small noise emitting from her mouth as the sight startled a small noise from her. Trunks immediately leaned down, taking Josie's head down with him, grinning, as her shoulders shook with her attempts to laugh. He shushed her, reminding her through a whisper that they had to be quiet, shaking her head and unable to help herself, Josie leaned her hand covered mouth on his shoulder to shut herself up. They were playing video games.

Of all the things to be doing on a date, they were playing video games in his room! "You're not really surprised, are you?" Trunks asked her quietly with that large grin, her hair lightly tickling his throat as her shoulders continued to shake. "Its Goten and Valerie." Josie nodded, pulling away slightly, as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. Her body, though crouched was now facing his, her hands behind her against the house for precarious balance, head about elbow length away from his own; Trunks easily balanced himself on his haunches, his hands on his knees as he watched her with amusement, elated to see her having such a good time on their little expedition.

"You had your fun, trouble." Trunks reminded her quietly,. "Do you want to go home now?" Josie looked up at him, suddenly realizing how close their heads were and blushing she began to panic, backing up. "Whoa, wait- Josie wait no, JOSIE!" Trunks shouted, standing, as Josie lost her balance and went down off one side.

From inside the room Goten and Valerie looked at each other quickly and rushed to the window. They saw Trunks sitting on a branch, with an arm extended holding the back of Josie's shirt. Josie dangled, with her arms crossed in annoyance, sighing, as she glanced up at Goten and Valerie, knowing that they had been officially caught.

"Hey." Valerie greeted, eyes narrowing, as she leaned on one side of the windowsill, a deceptive smile on her face. "Whatcha guys doing here?" she asked conversationally, only having to see Josie there to know EXACTLY what they were up to.

"Explain in a minute." Trunks muttered, as he pulled Josie up and grabbed her more securely around the waist and hovered up towards the window, offering her to Goten who took her wordlessly inside. Trunks came next and the four teenagers stood there, looking at each other, each knowing what was going on and not wanting to be the first to point out the obvious.

Josie quickly waved him to Goten over eagerly and then to Valerie who rolled her eyes. "I'm annoyed at you, just so you know." Valerie warned Josie, but she still gestured for her to take a seat. "You wanna play?" She offered, offering her own remote control.

Josie smiled and shook her head, going to bed and scooting as close to the wall as possible, her legs tucked underneath herself to settle in and watch the others play as the remaining three teens eagerly began talking about the video games they were playing and how great it was.

…

At one in the morning Trunks yawned, beginning to feel his eyes grow tired from staring at the screen. He looked at his two battle compatriots beside him and saw them both leaning eagerly forward, Valerie laughing at something that happened on the screen while Goten glanced at her with a smile. Trunks looked over his own shoulder, not having felt any movement on the bed behind him and saw Josie curled in a ball, asleep against a pillow she was holding to her chest.

"It's pretty late Val." Trunks realized aloud, stretching his arms over his head, placing his remote control to the side as Valerie turned to look at him, disappointment written all over her face.

"We were going to try one more game before we went back." She reminded, lowering her voice when she caught a glimpse of Josie through her peripheral vision.

"Yeah, come-on Trunks." Goten said happily.

Trunks shook his head, "I'm tired. I had to learn some more Capsule Corp stuff today and Josie's already out. You can stay if you like Val, but just don't let her be out too long Goten or my mom will start calling yours." Trunks warned with a smile as he began to get up. Goten nodded, looking at Valerie for approval to which she blushed, nodding eagerly.

"If it's okay." Trunks shrugged.

"It's fine with me." He assured, as he put a knee on the bed and went to gently pick up Josie.

"Whoa, why are you taking her?" Valerie asked, turning fully to face him now.

"You guys are noisy," Trunks pointed out. "And once I'm gone, who knows what kind of noises you two will be making-" Valerie huffed indignantly and threw a pillow at his head, which he took with a smile. "And," He continued, glancing at Josie. "I don't want to expose her to such perversion. I know you innocently want to play games Val, but you don't know what kind of things Goten could have in-" A harder pillow came at Trunks head, and when looking over at his best friend, Trunks saw the threat of a second pillow written on Goten's indignant face. Trunks chuckled holding up his hands in a giving up gesture. "Fine, fine. I know where I'm not wanted but I'm still taking her with me." He said, scooping Josie up before he straightened up, carefully adjusting her in his arms to make her more comfortable.

He said his goodbyes to the others, flying out the window and up into the night once more, stopping immediately when he felt Josie shiver. The now lightly frowning girl huddled closer and Trunks adjusted his hold, pressing his open palm against her hip and leg to fit her more snugly against his chest. "Sorry." He murmured softly, carefully moving a few strands of her hair from her face, before removing his hand and continuing the trek back home.

…

When they had arrived Trunks had tucked Josie into her bed, without her stirring at all and went back to his own bedroom to go to sleep. Two hours after arriving back home, despite the stillness and lack of noise, Josie suddenly woke up, frowning as she looked around, trying to remember when she'd gotten back home. Shaking her head, she removed the covers off of her body, immediately noting that she was wearing exactly what she had been before, minus her shoes. Wiggling her sock clad feet, she took her feet off the bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face, glancing at the clock and seeing it was only 3:30AM.

Disgusted at the fact that she'd woken up at such a terrible hour, Josie changed into her pajamas and remembered why she had been out of the house in the first place. Valerie's date. She quickly left her room and quietly crossed the small distance to Valerie's door, carefully opening it, expecting to see a form underneath her bed covers, but instead she saw her own shadow casted on the still neat made bed. Gasping at that realization, she turned on the light instinctually to take a better look - before realizing what a terrible idea that was, groaning. She quieted when she heard the sounds of nature outside and went to Valerie's slightly open window to close it for her, thinking it would only grow colder and Valerie's room would be freezing by the time her majesty decided to come back home.

And she says I'm a bad girl... Josie thought with a shake of her head, stopping when she heard faint voices outside. She quickly leaned forward - her face practically pressed against the cool glass to look down at the front porch where Valerie and Goten were talking.

They were saying goodnight, she realized, her heart picking up speed. Goodnights on dates meant goodnight kisses. Internally squeaking, Josie threw herself away from the window, nearly stumbling on Valerie's bed in her haste to get out of the room.

She rushed back in moments later, fumbling with the buttons on her camera as she attempted to turn the blasted thing on in time. _Come-on damn thing_, she thought desperately, biting her lower lip in anxiety, finally grinning when the camera lens began to slowly come out, the small screen flashing to life.

Glancing out the window she saw, more than heard, Valerie and Goten's conversation hit a small lull. _Yes, YES! _Josie thought excitedly, as she focused her camera on the couple outside. _Alright, I'm going to get a picture of the goodnight kiss between these two, and It's going to be great blackmail material. _She thought happily, closing one eye, trying to re-focus the somewhat blurry picture.

They were staring at each other.

Josie grinned from behind the camera lens, excitedly. This was it. She put a little more pressure on the button, ready to snap the picture at any moment.

Goten finally burst out a grin and offered Valerie a peace sign, before flying off.

Josie's eyes widened, the camera lowering down, her mouth wide open. After a moment, she face vaulted, quickly scrambling up, blinking down at the ground, holding her head in pain. _WHAT THE HELL! _Her mind shouted in horror. _Oh sweet God in Heaven, I'm turning into an anime character. I am truly turning into an anime character.._

She dropped herself down on Valerie's bed, fussing about her becoming like this world's people until Valerie opened the door to her bedroom. Ready to change and eager to get to bed, Valerie turned on the light, screaming bloody murder when she saw someone had been in her darkened room. Josie groaned, turning to the side to get away from the offensive noise. "-Dude?! What the hell are you doing here? You could have given me a freaken heart attack man!" Valerie scolded angrily.

"-What is it? What is it?!" Bulma shouted, coming down the hallway wearing a night-gown, looking around for the threat, as Trunks and Bra came out of their bedrooms rubbing their eyes tiredly.

"What the heck guys" Bra groaned. "I was having this amazing dream of this fine looking guy at my school-" She blinked, when she saw her mother amongst the teenagers and stuttered. "..w-were, we were having tea, and he was lovely company.." She trailed off, uncomfortably.

"Good save, little sis." Trunks chuckled, amused by his sister's scramble for words.

"Shut up." Bra hissed at him, embarrassed. Bulma ignored them both, looking from Josie to Valerie.

"You two okay?" She asked, confused.

"Yes. I'm sorry." Valerie sighed, embarrassed. "Josie was in here in the dark, and I freaked out when I saw someone was in here at this hour. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Bulma shook the apology off with a smile.

"Don't worry about it but you all just get to bed now and get some rest." She said with a yawn, as she started to walk away back towards her bedroom, putting a lazy arm around her daughter's shoulders. "So what's this about this fine looking friend?" Her mother asked suspiciously, as they walked down the hallway.

Trunks watched them go with amusement for a moment before turning his attention back to the terrible duo; Valerie was still glaring at Josie, flushed, while Josie merely smiled back in response.

"Alright, now that you've made me nearly loose my voice from screaming so damn loudly-" Josie raised a brow at the accidental jab at her, Valerie paused, having realized what she said and slapped her own forehead, making Josie grin. Josie waved it away, not offended at all. "Sorry." Valerie mumbled. Josie stood up, still grinning, looking past Valerie's shoulder at Trunks who smiled back at her in response, knowing exactly what she wanted.

Valerie looked between the two, confused. "What?" She asked, feeling like she was missing something important.

"So Val." Trunks started carefully. "What did you and Goten do after I left?" He asked, glancing at the clock inside Valerie's room, his smile widening when he saw the time. "Two hours ago." Valerie's eyes widened at the insinuation.

"We kept playing video games, you perv!" She shouted defensively.

"What else did you do on your date?" He asked with a smirk, leaning against the doorway. Valerie huffed, hands at her hips with indignation radiating off of her small form.

"None of your damn business!" Valerie turned to Josie. "Can you call of underwear boy over here?" Josie looked more amused than even Trunks did, and when Valerie demanded her assistance, Josie fought hard not to grin and knew she'd failed, when Valerie's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"IHATEYOUBOTH- OUT! OUT, BOTH OF YOU JERK-OFFS! I am going to take a shower and by the time I'm done I expect you ass wipes OUT!" Valerie shouted, marching into her bathroom and slamming the door closed.

Josie blinked when the doorframe shook and glanced at Trunks who was looking over at her too. "…She was pretty mad." He pointed out. Josie grinned at the unnecessarily obvious statement. Still though, she shrugged and sat down on the bed, reaching for a notepad she saw on Valerie's bedside counter, beginning to doodle to distract herself while she waited. Trunks noticed her make herself comfort with a sense of both trepidation an admiration for the obviously suicidal girl.

"..Well…I'm just going to go ahead and make my escape now then, I really don't recommend you stay here either." Josie smiled over at him, clearly not worried. Trunks chuckled, knowing that Josie was not one to back away from a dare and she was eager to meet this one head one. And he couldn't talk her out of it, so he started to make his way out of the room, pausing for a second when he realized something. "Hey," He complained. "She called us as swipes!" He realized, somewhat offended.

Josie's grin widened and she flipped the page, quickly scribble down:

_I'll remind you that she also called us jerk-offs. Personally, I think I was more offended by the masturbation insult than the butt wiper insult._

Trunks burst out laughing once he took the note and read it, instinctually folding it and placing it in his pocket, deciding to keep it. Josie watched him go with a smile and sat calmly, looking around for something else to distract herself with while she waited. Finding nothing else to do, she continued to simply sit and wait, growing more and more agitated the longer Valerie took.

Gotta be kidding me... Josie thought as she looked at Valerie's clock. Shaking her head and bored out of her midn, Josie left the room and went down the stairs, thinking she would get a snack while she continued to wait. She went to the kitchen and turned on the light, padding, barefoot toward the freezer, knowing exactly what she was looking for.

Ice cream.

Moving some stuff to get a better view, Josie continued her search. _Where's my goal, where's my- Bingo! _Josie smiled, when she came out with her arm holding a galloon of chocolate ice cream. She set it on the small table and went to get a bowl and spoon.

She gave herself a decent sized amount and sat down to happily gobble it down, leaving the galloon out incase she wanted refills. She sat eating, oblivious to the eyes that watched her.

"So," The voice started calmly. Josie stopped, nearly choking. "You wait until we are asleep, and THEN you devour our food supply." Josie's eyes narrowed at the accusation and turned her head to see Vegeta approaching the table, studying her and more specifically the ice cream intently. She looked around for something to write with and finally caught sight of the notepad attached to the fridge door and began writing on a new page.

_First off, sunshine. I do NOT devour food, at all. I was just feeling a little…peck-ish._

Uncertain of her wording, Josie frowned down at the notepad, not remembering vegeta did not like to be made to wait; the Saiyan impatiently took the notepad from her hands, reading the note, and snorted. Josie glared, taking the notepad back and writing on the next page:

_What are you doing down here anyway?_

He shrugged when he read it, glancing at the ice cream for the third time.

"I am up at this hour because your short, annoying friend woke me up with her loud screeching." Josie smiled, watching his eyes go back to the ice cream, ready to get up and go get him something but wanting to hear him ask for finally pointed at the ice cream and Josie arched a brow, raising her head to ask what he wanted.

His only response was a glare, knowing very well that she knew exactly what it was he was asking for. Knowing she would get nothing better, Josie rolled her eyes and got up to get him gave him triple the amount that she'd given herself and sat down across from him, watching him eat it with amusement. It didn't take him very long and he demanded seconds. After serving him more ice cream once more, he finally seemed satisfied and nodded, standing up, about to walk away.

She quickly scrambled up, tugging at his sleeve before he got to the door. He stopped, looking over at where she was holding him. He could pull away and keep walking, or he thought with more vindictive amusement, he could keep walking and drag her along the floor with him. He was sure though, that Bulma would not appreciate that, so instead, he looked over at her impatiently.

She held up both hands for him to stay exactly where he was while she went back to the table and quickly picked up the notepad.

_Don't go yet, I don't think I'll be able to go to sleep for a little while, keep me company?_

Vegeta stared at her, stupefied. "…You've got to be kidding me." He said.

Josie shook her head sheepishly. "No." He said simply, about to walk away. She pulled at him gently again, pouting her very best miserable pout - adding in a dash of wide eyes she was sure she'd seen his daughter use, a technique she was already familiar with herself. He frowned at that, about to turn again, but finding himself having a harder time of it than he expected. He glanced back at her miserable expression again, and hesitated.

Josie saw it, and smirked inwardly.

…

Bra walked into the dinning room where Josie was already sitting, waiting for breakfast, looking absolutely exhausted.

"..Good-morning." Bra greeted happily but just a little confused as to why Josie was out here so early in the morning. Josie had her chin on her hand that rested on the table, she moved her hand in order to move her face in Bra's direction, before letting her hand flop to the table, looking around for a piece of paper and finding it a little out of hands reach on the table. She unfolded it and pointed it at Bra, the paper simply reading:

_Morning._

Bra raised an eyebrow at that, chuckling.

"You look terrible." She said honestly. Josie glared at the honesty, following her with her eyes as Bra came to sit down next to her, undeterred. "Where's my mom?" Josie pointed to the kitchen, resting her chin on her arms once more. Bra patted her back comfortingly. "Did you stay up late or something?" Josie nodded, sighing as she lazily wrote on her notebook:

_Yeah, me and your Dad stayed up watching TV._

Bra snickered at that. "Yeah right and pigs flew, what'd you really do?" Josie frowned at her. She'd gotten a similar response from Bulma when she'd tried to tell her too. Josie stuck her tongue out at her, too lazy to try to convince of what happened, dropping her head back on her arms. "Want to go make some other people as miserable as you?" Bra offered with a smile, laughing as Josie's head immediately picked up, interest lighting her eyes. Knowing that this was why Josie was her favorite, Bra got up nodding for her to follow.

The two quietly went up the stairs to stand in front of Trunks bedroom door. Bra paused before she made contact with the doorknob, turning towards Josie to explain the plan. "Here's what we are going to do, we are going to make as much noise as possible once we get in there-have you ever seen my brother just waking up?" Bra asked, happy when she saw Josie shake her head in a no.

"Alright, you're in for a treat. He looks so…un-groomed." Bra muffled her laughter, unable to think of another way to describe it. Her brother was always well taken care of, and he always made sure he looked his best, especially when around girls. It was the reason why he, probably, out of everyone in the house, took the longest to ever get ready every day. "His hair is all over the place - it's just, something everyone has to experience at some point." Josie grinned, growing more and more excited at the thought. She tugged at Bra's arm to make her wait and quickly ran to her room.

Josie came out less than a minute later holding her camera from last night; Hopefully she'd get something good on film this time. Bra snickered when she saw what Josie was carrying. "Good idea." She whispered. "Ready?" Josie nodded and at the count of three Bra carefully opened the door and the two girls crept inside the room, going around the bed to where they could see him best.

And Bra had definitely been right.

This was definitely a sight that everyone needed to see at least once. Trunks was only wearing a pair of boxers with smiley faces all over, no shirt, with all extremities thrown about with no care if they were actually on the bed or not; his head dangling off the bed with an arm discarded beside it, the other far away from his body, one leg bent at a funny angle, and the other partially underneath a blanket covering only two of his toes. **Two.** Josie tilted her head as she tried to make sense of his choice of sleeping position. _That looks extremely uncomfortable, _she thought tilting her head further to examine it. She heard Bra snicker beside her, and felt Bra's elbow digging into her side, urging her to hurry up.

Remembering that that was their whole purpose for being in here now, Josie raised her camera with a grin and took picture after picture, startling awake Trunks with the offensive flashes from the camera.

He immediately jumped up on the bed, crouched in a fighting position, hair completely messed up with a sock having somehow gotten tangled up there. He blinked, confused and startled when he saw the two girls in his room. He was able to register that his little sister was in the room and- his face blushed a deep red.

"BRA! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?" Trunks demanded, fists clenched as he turned his rage towards his younger sister who squeaked in surprise. He was ready to dive towards the girl, when another flash momentarily distracted him. "JOSIE!" He scolded, humiliation catching up with him as he stumbled over his blankets in an attempt to get to the bathroom faster.

Once he was locked away in there shouting a stream of curses, Bra allowed herself to start laughing while Josie stared at the bathroom door in disbelief at what she had just witnessed.

Grinning with inspiration, she reached into her pants pocket where she had a thinner notepad and quickly scribbled on went towards the bathroom door and ripped off the page, sliding it underneath the door partially. She was amused when she stepped back a second later, heard a pause in the stream of obscenities and the paper quickly disappeared into the privacy of the bathroom.

Their was another moment of silence, before a louder stream of curses filled their ears.

Bra grinned amused. "What did that say?" She asked curiously. Josie did not respond and merely flipped through the pictures of her digital camera as she left the bedroom, smiling as she tried to imagine Trunks facial expression when he read her little note:

**Nice trunks, Trunks. **


	17. Chapter 17: Loud Mouth

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing the guitar on my back and the song in my heart... alright, I don't have a guitar and the only song in my heart is the one I'm listening to on pandora but I don't own that song either.. or pandora. I also do not own Akira Toriyama's series, DB/Z/GT but I own Val and Josie.

And as always, a very special thank you to Thomas Drovin. You sir, are amazing.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

Chapter 17: Loud mouth

Note: I apologize for the long delay, reviews were slow to be honest but I appreciate and love EVERY single one of you that come back. Thank you to all those who subscribed to my story during my absence.

Chapter 17:

"Come on little whiner." Trunks said with a smile, as he continued to nudge Josie back into the shadows of the house. She'd been up on the roof all morning avoiding this very moment and as soon as he pushed open the second door that lead to his moms laboratories she frowned and went back to her notebook; walking forward without a care of what she may hit. Trunks grimaced in displeasure at her carelessness, moving quickly ahead of her to move a chair out of her way with his foot and almost tripping over a lamp himself with his other foot as she moved into the corridor.

He took a few big steps to catch up to her after his near mishap and noticed her about to walk into a puddle of water that clearly had a yellow cone warning about that very matter, which, of course, she was avidly not paying attention too. "You've got to be kidding me." He growled and rushed to her, scooping her up and yelping out a curse for them as they both tumbled down the stairs. He'd protectively clutched her to avoid her being harmed and when they both blinked up at the ceiling at the bottom of the short staircase a few seconds later, Bulma's hovering shadow came over them.

"Really Trunks?" She scolded, a deep frown etched in her face. "Here I am trying to heal this poor girls throat like a mad woman the last week, barely getting a wink of sleep and you're trying to kill her before I even get her in my infirmary. Shame on you, son, you should be more careful and watch where you're going!" Bulma chastised, unhappily, she worriedly helped Josie get up and checked her over briefly for injury. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" She asked with concern.

Josie nodded, accepting the help up and turned towards Trunks, as well, shaking her head in clear disappoint, siding with his mother over his carelessness. His eyes narrowed and his mouth dropped open and she couldn't help but grin and give him a small wink.

"You sure you're okay?" Bulma asked, quickly touching her shoulder, elbow and knee to make sure nothing was dislocated. She signaled her writing pad was missing and made a big show of looking around for it. "Help her find it, you big bully!" Bulma scolded, giving her son a quick wack to the arm. Trunks muttered quietly under his breath as he looked up the stairs and saw the notebook. He briefly jogged to it and gave it to her with a glare.

"Now I need to make a quick phone call downstairs to make sure her results are ready. You think you can get her to my infirmary down the hall in one piece while I go do that?" Bulma asked with a smile, raising an eyebrow. Josie quickly took to writing and handed her a piece of paper that she read out loud:

"I hope our close call here taught him a valuable lesson." Bulma nodded, glaring at her son. "Me too, kiddo, me too!" Bulma reached up and ruffled her sons hair before turning around and making her way down the hall. "Now get a move on, I'll meet you both there in a few minutes but Josie, do me a favor? look out for the boy so he doesn't get you both killed." Josie saluted her blue haired Captain with a grin as she walked away.

She could feel the burning eyes to the right side of her head, ready to tear into her so she over exaggerated her wave and continued waving long after Bulma was gone in hopes of avoiding his gaze. She was only able to wave for a mere few seconds longer before she felt a sharp little pinch on her right arm and did what could only be described as a small yelp that you very rarely hear rabbits make when frightened or startled. Trunks eyes widened at the first noise Josie had produced in weeks and was unable to help but laugh at it.

Now, Josie glared and began to write something furiously on her notepad while Trunks laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. He took it and brought it up to his smiling face, massaging one of his cheeks with the other that was beginning to hurt from smiling so much.

"I'm telling you pinched?" Trunks read aloud with a question, his grin only widening. His eyes twinkled as he looked down at the angry girl before him. "Yeah, well, I'm telling you squeal like a pig." He heard the audible gasp of outrage Josie gave before he realized it was probably a good idea to start running and he did just that with Josie giving chase. He went through the hallway and shouted back, "See Josie? This is good!" He briefly saw her raise an eyebrow as she continued after him. "Making you angry is helping your vocal cords work again... even if you do sound like a horse." His grin widened as he saw her speed up and he quickly did the same but had not seen him his mother coming out of an adjacent room with an armful of papers. By the time he turned his head back to look forward he was only a few feet away from her and though he tried as hard as he could to pull his weight back and stop his momentum he was unable to fully stop and by the time Bulma looked up; her son was upon her and her paperwork she was holding was strewn all throughout the room.

There was a moment of deafening silence as both mother and son sat awkwardly on the ground, Trunks eyes wide and cheeks red flushed with embarrassment and Bulma's chest heaving and eyes progressively narrowing. Josie had stopped a few feet back and eyed the whole ordeal with a smile she was trying very hard to cover up with a hand.

...

"Sorry about the delay everyone." Bulma said with a sigh as she finally entered the infirmary 10 minutes later with a still blushing Trunks behind her and Josie smiling beside him. "Let's just..." Bulma shook her head, not even thinking it was worth it to tell them all the things that had happened just down the hallway a few minutes ago. "Let's just have you hop onto the examination table, Josie and we'll get right to it." Josie's smile briefly went away before politely coming back up. Unseen by the others, Trunks reassuringly gave her arm a light squeeze before she went forward. He knew that she was worried about her progress letting them all down; he had no idea when the girl had ever developed a silly notion like that but she was nervous about the intensity with which they all oversaw her improvements or lack thereof. He was confident, however, that she would get better. He would make sure of it. Josie gave a quick uncomfortable wave to everyone in the room; Bra, Valerie and Goten, whom she briefly noted were standing next to each other. She'd noticed recently that whenever they were in the same room they rarely ever did not sit or stand next to one another and that passing thought gave her a small reason to genuinely smile as she sat on the table, facing them all as Bulma updated them all on what she planned to do.

Throughout the week Bulma continued to work now more in private with Josie, giving her different treatments that she had devised with her colleagues, noting any changes and documenting any small noises she started to produce.

"Are you sure you can?" Bulma asked hopeful, her hands together underneath her chin, biting her bottom lip with her eyes twinkling with excitement. "Can I hear it then? one more time?" She asked grinning. Josie laid on the examination table, one knee bent with her foot planted on the table, her hands lazily entwined on her belly as she stared up at the light fixture above her; trying hard to focus on her throat. She swallowed once more before opening her mouth,

"Keys." Josie whispered, carefully. Bulma laughed joyously, clapping her hands together, her heart beat racing and eyes glimmering with unshed tears.

"That's amazing, Josie." Bulma exhaled shakily, wiping at the corner of her eyes before Josie saw. She smiled and shook her head. "Granted, right now you sound like a chain smoking woman of eighty years but I promise you," She assured passionately, one hand resting over Josie's as the smaller girl looked up at her. "Within a week, i'll have you chattering just like before." She reassured, stroking Josie's hair with her other hand, unsure if she was trying to comfort Josie or herself. When the ordeal happened, her heart had felt so heavy for weeks with guilt over having that happen under her guardianship. She felt such a kinship with Josie and Valerie's parents and she thought now, that it may be with the hope that if Kame forbid, her own children were thrown into a foreign land without any resources, that someone would too help them the same way. "I'm so proud of you." Bulma said happily. "You said an actual word this time. Keys, right?" Josie grinned and reached to her side as she started to sit up and scribbled a note.

**I was actually trying to say Monkeys, but close enough, right? **

Bulma couldn't help but laugh at that, nodding. Josie smiled, glad to see Bulma gradually becoming more light hearted. Since the accident she became a little more strict and reserved and she was sure it was because she felt guilty. She took Bulma's hand and raised it up to her cheek garnering Bulma's full attention, Josie used her other hand to bring her open palm gently to her lips and extending it away from her mouth, mouthing the most sincere 'Thank you' that she could muster, squeezing her other hand gently. Bulma heart melted.

"It was my pleasure, sweetheart." She said honestly. Over a month ago Josie requested that she be taught sign language, Bulma had opposed it at first because she didn't want to acknowledge the fact that they may not be able to find a solution to help her get her voice back but Josie had been so insistent. They agreed not to tell the others because it would likely just upset them so they took time to themselves to learn some basic signs. Josie grinned and reached up giving Bulma a kiss on the cheek before hopping out of the table.

She walked happily through the house, thoughts far away from her steps. She thought of her new makeshift family; Vegeta was thankfully getting back to somewhat normal with her and she had no idea where he was at the moment and Bra was out with her school friends. Trunks, she assumed was at CC HQ the way he had been a lot lately, training to take over his mother's position as CEO one day and as for Valerie and Goten, well...

Josie s grin widened as she quietly placed her hand on the wall, resting her cheek on the back of her hand as she watched Valerie laying on her stomach on the carpeted floor of the living room drawing on a large sketch pad, while Goten lied across from her also on his stomach attempting to imitate Valerie s drawing on a much smaller notebook. By the looks of things, he was doing a terrible job, something, which she assumed he was definitely aware of by the embarrassed expression on his face. Valerie glanced over at Goten's stick figure drawing and grinned at him.

"Don't worry, Goten, you'll get better." He just chuckled and scratched his head absentmindedly.

"..Maybe I should just color." He joked as Josie carefully turned back around and went up the stairs, intent on finding another exit that wouldn't interrupt them. She lost herself in the maze that was this building twice more before she finally managed to get to the backyard where she found Vegeta standing on the grassy terrain with his arms crossed simply looking up. She tilted her head in confusion but followed his line of sight and blinked, surprised, when she saw Son Goku hovering in the air. The taller Saiyan looked over at Josie with a smile, waving.

"Hello, Josie, right?" She nodded with a light smile. "Well, it's nice to see you but I got to run, bye!" He said about to put two fingers to his forehead when a small paper ball landed squarely between his eyes. He blinked, startled, looking down at Vegeta who was only smirking at him then over at Josie who held a notebook in her hand and quickly scribbled away. He scratched the back of his head, confused, as he descended back to the ground thinking that maybe she needed to tell him something? She quickly looked up apologetically and signaled for him to wait a minute as she continued to write. A few seconds later she ripped off the paper and thrust the note toward him.

**Goku, since you're leaving, would you mind flying me to Capsule Corp HQ to see Trunks?**

He grinned in reply and his eyes shone mischievously up at her.

"I'll do you one better." He promised, quickly reaching out and grabbing her by the wrist. Before she knew it she no longer felt solid, her body disappeared and her vision blacked out for a second. Josie desperately shook what she imagined had to be her head - their was just no way it could just disappear? she gasped for breath, this had to be it, he'd somehow ended up throwing her back to her world. How had he done it?

And why? why without warning? she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to anyone. Before Josie even finished her thought her vision blurred back into real colors and her body abruptly materialized. She reached out a hand and felt a firm wall as she desperately looked around only to see an office building with Capsule Corp insignias everywhere. Goku grinned down at her.

"There ya go." He chirped happily as he gave her a quick wave and disappeared once more. She groaned out loud as she closed her eyes leaning on a sign, her hand at her racing heart as she attempted to still her trembling body, her head more dizzy than she had ever felt it, flinching as her body was attempting to bring her breakfast back up. She stayed outside for a few minutes, breathing in and out slowly in an attempt to get rid of the shaking. What was worse was the fact that she wasn't even sure what it was that had gotten her this sick, was it the sudden and unexpected trip or the blinding fear of having been brought home before she was ready.

She shook her head to get the thought out of her head and wiped her hand across her face to get rid of the beads of sweat, straightening up, thinking that she mostly had herself under control now. As soon as she moved she felt another wave of nausea and she cursed Goku for putting her through that without warning thinking that Vegeta would never be dumb enough to do that to her.

_Or hell, maybe he would if he could - just to be a jerk_, Josie thought with an amused smile. She entered the building slowly as she eyed the elevator warily and opted to take the stairs as extra time to get the nausea under control. She had come here to share the good news of her voice with Trunks not throw up all over him as soon as she saw him due to an elevator ride putting her over the edge. She was sure she was on the right floor when she heard girls whispering about the upcoming CEO, gossiping about Bulma's insanely good looking son. Josie rolled her eyes as she went past them and out into another hallway where she paused at the open doorway that had his name on the door. Trunks was standing beside his desk where a girl was sitting, wearing a short gray skirt and a revealing white blouse. Josie arched a brow at the way she leaned into Trunks, giggling.

Having very much enough of the gross scene before her she knocked loudly on the wall beside the door. Trunks abruptly straightened and the girl nearly fell off the desk making Josie grin unintenionally.

"Josie." Trunks stuttered, surprised, having been terrified that it would have been his mother. "What are you doing here?" He said trying to calm his erratically beating heart. She merely smiled in reply signaling to the girl that was still on the floor. He fought the wave of embarrassment that flooded him and quickly helped the girl up and ushered her quickly to the door. "I'll talk to you later, Francis." He mumbled, awkwardly, offering passageway to Josie after Francis exited and closing the door after her when she finally stepped in with her arms crossed. He watched her as she lazily made her way around the room and finally couldn't stand the silence anymore. "Josie." He called, frustrated. She glanced at him as he pointed for her to sit in his chair, looking pretty bothered. She gave a light shrug and finally sat down while he went behind her and leaned in to take the mouse, clicking on a word pad program for her to write on. He moved back to give her some space and sat on the edge of the desk, looking at her intently, still feeling flustered. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

She quickly typed, **Just wanted to tell you**

He looked back at her expectantly, confused as to why she had paused there. Josie ignored him and continued to stare at the blinking marker, frowning as her stomach churned.

"Josie?" He asked, confused. She came out of her reverie and smiled at him, ignoring his questioning gaze. She grinned and shook her head lightly to brush off the unnecessary concern. She quickly deleted what she wrote and typed up.

**I was passing by and I thought I would drop in and tell you that I think our mission with Goten and Valerie is working. They're pretty close now huh?**

He remained quiet for a minute, frowning at the screen for a few seconds before nodding.

"Yeah. I suppose they are." She smiled, nodding as she ignored his studying gaze as she went back to the keys.

**Well, I should get going. I'm meeting Bra at the boutique down the street.**

He nodded faintly, standing up.

"Alright, I'll walk you out." He said. She stood up and cringed at her upset stomach reacting from the transport over. She straightened quickly and bypassed him and reached up to ruffle his hair, telling him with her eyes that he didn't have to bother. He stopped following and lightly ran his hands through his hair to try to fix the mess she usually enjoyed making and watched her give a quick little wave and walk out of his door before he could argue. He sighed as he made his way to his desk staring at the still open word pad with her typed up phrases wondering what the heck had just happened.

Josie went down a few hallways and down a few flights of stairs before finally making it outside, breathing in deeply, the fresh air settling her stomach almost instantaneously. She chuckled as she slowly started to make her way down the street having absolutely no idea what to do with herself now that she had lied to Trunks and had no way of getting home.

"'Ell, that was awkward." She rasped out, chuckling again, as she lightly held her throat.

...

Two weeks later Goten and Valerie outside Capsule Corp s main living room windows, watching in amusement and concern as the people inside shouted at each other across the room.

"Don t you think that's bad for her voice?" Valerie asked, worried. Goten shrugged beside her continuing to watch the match.

"Bulma did say it was good exercise." He said, mesmerized with the argument. Bra stopped walking back towards the house when she saw Valerie and Goten outside the house. She was surprised having immediately known that they were spying but knowing that they weren't usually the spying type. She looked behind her and waved away her school friends who she d been on a shopping trip with. She carefully made her way towards her friends ready to join in the action and trying to get a good look inside the house now that these two had the best seats.

"What s going on guys?" She asked, curious. Valerie looked up quickly and yanked her down.

"You're going to give us away." Valerie scolded.

"Well, what s going on?" Bra repeated, more quietly with a roll of her eyes. Valerie nodded inside and shifted so that Bra could take a look. It took her a moment to realize what was going on but her eyes widened when she did, "Again?" She asked, exasperated. Goten nodded.

"Yup." He confirmed. Valerie shushed them both with agitation, they were able to hear some of the argument through the very partially opened window if they all remained quiet.

"_UGH! WHY THE HELL COULDN'T YOU HAVE STAYED MUTE?" _Trunks shouted, frustrated from within the living room as he turned back around to look at the girl who was currently making his blood boil in rage. Josie was looking away when he said that and flinched at that comment but without missing a beat she flipped him off, refusing to make eye contact or dignify that with a response.

"Very mature Josie!" Trunks bit back with narrowed eyes finally getting her to look back at him, anger in her eyes.

"_You're the idiot accusing me of something I DID NOT DO. It's not my fault!"_ She shouted back. From outside Bra nodded approvingly.

"She sounds pretty good." She said, impressed. "My mom's treatment really helped strength her vocal chords, didn't they?" Goten nodded.

"Josie said my mom's teas and herbal remedies helped a lot too." He added.

"I think BOTH of your moms did **too** good of a job." Valerie said, cringing at the volume of the continuing argument.

"So what is it about, this time?" Bra asked, grinning as she saw her brother and Josie facing off in the middle of the room glaring at each other so hard she could swear they were going to start beating each other into pulps in there. Valerie turned more fully to face the youngest Briefs and glared at her in turn, remembering what started this needless argument.

"Because SOMEONE told Bulma that Trunks was going out with some intern named Francis when Bulma told him very specifically **not** to date any interns and he got into a lot of trouble because of it." Valerie finished, shaking her head as the young girl paled, proving her theory as to who the actual culprit was right. Bra gulped as she looked back into the living room with trepidation.

"She hasn't told him, has she?" Bra asked nervously.

"No." Valerie said rolling her eyes at the young pre-teens concern mainly being for herself in all of this. "But if this gets too out of hand.." She trailed off. Now it was Bra's turn to roll her eyes as she nodded and rested her chin on the window edge to continue watching.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll tell them it was me." Valerie nodded in satisfaction.

"For now, however, we'll just keep watching." Valerie said with a smile. "I think that funny vein on Trunks forehead is about to burst." She said with some amusement.

...

From within the house itself, another pair listened the two arguing teenagers from the dinning room.

"Will you listen to them?" Bulma asked her husband with a shake of her head. "They've been at it for a while. Do you think I should go in there?" She asked Vegeta, as she peeped through the dinning room cabinet door windows, that looked into the living room.

"No." Vegeta said simply as he continued to eat at the table, uninterested. "Mind your own business, woman." He scolded, annoyed at his nosy wife. Bulma turned back to him with a glare, a hand on her hip.

"Vegeta, I swear sometimes-"

"_I'M DONE HAVING THIS 'CONVERSATION' TRUNKS."_ Bulma shot one last glare at her husband before turning back to see what was happening now. Josie was at the bottom step of the staircase turned towards her son, fuming. "This is the LAST time I'm going to say it so PLEASE make the effort to get it through your thick head. I did NOT tell on you about her. I have NO INTEREST in what you do." She said, teeth clenching when Trunks snorted in disbelief.

...

"You know who they remind me of?" Bra asked suddenly, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"Who?" Valerie asked.

"My mom and - uh oh." Bra stopped when she saw someone pull up in front of their house. Valerie glanced at her and Goten noticing that they both nervously looked at the vehicle.

"Who is it?" She asked, confused. Bra quickly scrambled to scurry out from underneath the window pane without the arguing duo inside seeing them and without the people getting out of the car noticing. She awkwardly got up and attempted to clean off bits of grass that stayed on her as she crossed her front yard to greet Gohan's family.

"Hi Gohan." She greeted, her voice lowered as Videl, Gohan, Pan and Giru came up to them. They all noticed Goten and Valerie trying to get out of the same spot awkwardly that Bra had just maneuvered out of it and went to greet them all a moment later.

"How are you little bro?" Gohan said with an amused smile.

"Hey Gohan." Goten said happily. "I'm good."

"...So who were you guys spying on?" Videl asked with a raised brow and a smile decorating her lips as her daughter behind her snickered at the obvious as well.

"No one." Bra assured, grinning widely making Pan snort.

"Danger, Pan, danger." Giru warned as he hid behind Pan automatically, feeling the tension levels past the CC walls. Pan rolled her eyes as she knocked the little robot floating behind her once over the head.

"Shut up, Giru. You always think theirs danger." She said annoyed.

"Pan." Gohan scolded. "No hitting Giru."

"Sorry Papa." Pan apologized.

"Sorry about that." Gohan apologized as well, sheepishly, particularly to Valerie who he still didn't know very well but had certainly made an impression on him as well as his friends the day of Bra's birthday. He remembered having had a very long conversation with Piccolo after the party about the two girls, mostly attempting to convince his Namekian mentor that the two girls seemed to mean none of them any harm. He was assured of that right now as he saw the three kids happily up to no good. He had been talking with his mother lately and she had told him of how Goten was spending most of his free time over at Capsule Corporation to have adventures with their new friends. He was relieved, truthfully, because they were going to be somewhat vulnerable in these incoming months and they really needed to be around people they trusted.

Gohan shook his head lightly attempting to focus back on the light hearted banter in front of him, not wanting to delve into such serious thoughts before he found the people he needed to talk too. "Hey guys,where is Vegeta?" The chatter ceased for a minute as the three teens before him considered his question.

"I'm not sure, I just got here." Bra answered honestly. Valerie raised her hand shyly, unsure of how to talk to him quite yet, still far too overwhelmed by one of the greatest fighters that ever lived, to have normal conversation with him.

"..I think he was bugging Bulma about food in the kitchen, last I saw him." She offered with a light shrug and smile. Gohan returned the smile and nodded, thanking her as he moved towards the front doors and rang the doorbell before the kids could recommend otherwise.

The door swung open.

"WHAT?" Josie demanded, fire in her eyes. She gasped lightly and her eyes widened in a few short seconds, the flush in her cheeks becoming more prominent when she noticed who she had just shouted at. "Geez." She exhaled, slapping her own forehead. "I'm really sorry... uh." She put her other hand on her hip, unsure of what to say as she opened the door fully, revealing an angry Trunks who was staring at the ground. "Trunks?" She called, clearing her throat. Trunks looked up with annoyance that very quickly went away as soon as he saw who was at the front door, he didn't miss a beat as he stepped forward and pasted a fake smile for his long-time friend. When he shook Gohan s hand, his smile became more genuine, the love for his long-time friends shining through.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked conversationally, gesturing them to come-in.

"I'm sorry." Gohan started as he followed Trunks inside. "Did.. we come at a bad time?" He asked, sheepishly, having to be blind to not notice the tension and flustered expressions.

"No, not at a all." Trunks assured, signaling them to please take a seat throughout the living room couches. Josie remained at the door and glared at Bra, Valerie and Goten who came in last. She closed the door and grabbed Bra's arm before she got away. Bra looked at her nervously.

"..Yes?"

"You owe me, damn it." Josie hissed angrily. Bra's eyes widened and she nodded quickly in agreement. Trunks didn't notice any of this as he focused on hosting the surprise visit and took a seat across from the family.

"How have you guys been? would you like anything to drink?" He offered politely.

"Wouldn't say no to a soda." Gohan said with a smile. "And your parents coming in here, if you don't mind." Trunks started to stand up but Josie waved him down.

"I'll do it." She muttered, not wanting to be in the same room as him as she went into the dinning room intending to head straight to the kitchen but stopping when she heard Bulma and vegeta arguing as soon as she entered this room.

"I am NOT nosy." Bulma shouted, embarrassed and irritated at her husbands disgust. "And while we are on the subject, Mister-" She turned when she heard Josie clear her throat, and blushed. "Hi sweetie." She said quickly, eyes wide as she turned away from her husband to face her house guest. "Did you need anything?" Josie sweat dropped nervously, the similarities between what was happening in here and what had been happening in the living room three minutes ago not lost on her.

"Uh... Gohan and Videl are here, they would like to speak to you." Bulma blinked, surprised.

"Oh." She mumbled, attempting to straighten up her appearance as she put a stray hair behind her ear. "I didn't even hear the doorbell ring." She said with a light smile for Josie as she started to make her way to the door.

"That's because you were too busy screaming like a banshee at me." Vegeta retorted, annoyed as he rubbed his pained ears. Bulma froze, shoulders tense as her eyes narrowed on the door in front of her as she fought the urge to turn around and give him another piece of her mind. She took a deep and slow breath, throwing a quick murderous glare at him over her shoulder before pushing the door in front of her open before she did actually go back and got into another argument with her husband.

Josie scratched her head, confused and very uncomfortable with all of the arguing. She followed slowly after Vegeta who went into the kitchen and looked through the cabinets for something. She remembered her reason for coming in here in the first place and went to the fridge opening it.

"Hey Veg?" She started, at his silent glare she shook her head. "Sorry," She mumbled. "Vegeta?" She tried again.

"It was nothing, Brat." He waved off the concern on her face, assuming she was going to ask him what they were arguing about and if everything was okay.

"Okay." She nodded. "But Vegeta?" He growled and signaled impatiently for her to throw one of the cans of soda she was retrieving. She did so, wordlessly. "Touchy." She muttered as she reached for another can. "I just... wanted to ask if you guys could.. hear us? what was going on in the living room?" She asked, cringing in embarrassment. She really was not an argumentative person back home, at all. This world just... had an effect on her.

"Brat." He called and he tore open the can and swallowed. She looked at him as she set the last can of soda on the counter. "I don't doubt that the next door neighbors - that are at least 75 yards away from where we are standing- heard you." Josie groaned at that, shaking her head as she thanked him despite the embarrassing comment he'd made and offered him another soda.

"Get me a beer this time." He commanded. She nodded with a grin, reaching in to the fridge and throwing one at him unable to blame him for his desire after the argument he appeared to have been having with his wife. She knew that if she were the drinking type of person, she'd totally be right alongside him right now... if she were also of proper age to drink. She wrapped her arms around the drinks she had set on the counter and made her way to the living room with Vegeta following behind her. As soon as they entered the felt the serious mood of the room that was not due to silly arguments like the ones they'd all had earlier. Josie silently spread out the drinks for the guests, noticing immediately the absence of all the minors. Bulma had a thoughtful frown on her face as she absently thanked Josie for her drink and held it on her lap.

"...So you're basically saying we would need seven of us, right?" She asked, attempting to process what Gohan had just given her in the last few minutes.

"Well.." Gohan adjusted his glasses as he figured out in his head what would work best. "I was thinking we should just take what we need. A genuis," He said gesturing to Bulma with a light smile. "who'll be able to navigate the ship and fix it if anything came up."

"And also maybe a, what the hell is going on? kind of guy." Vegeta offered with irritation as he crushed his can of beer and threw it at Josie's empty hands for her to catch as he went to stand next to the sitting Bulma feeling his protective instinct take over. "What the hell is going on." He demanded.

"Vegeta." Gohan greeted with a smile. "Please, sit." Vegeta remained standing. "Er.. or stand." Gohan said with a shrug, feeling awkward with the older man. Immediately Vegeta sat on the arm of the chair making Gohan sweat drop.

"Alright." Bulma agreed excitedly, throwing her hands in the air, recklessly, a big smile on her face, completely ignoring Vegeta's caveman behavior. "What the hell right?" She asked rhetorically. "I'm turning into an old woman, I might as well enjoy what's left." She said, grinning. "One last adventure." She said wistfully.

"You are not going anywhere without my consent, Woman." Vegeta said firmly, eyes narrowed at Gohan. He hesitated for a moment and turned briefly to Bulma. "..Where are you going?" He asked, unsure. Bulma smiled up at her husband, taking his arm excitedly.

Come-on Vegeta, we should do this." She urged, earlier argument forgotten. "One last hurrah." Her eyes shining with excitement. Vegeta looked at her with confusion, wanting to shake her off, but not wanting to further anger her. He looked at Gohan silently, demanding an explanation.

"Namek." Gohan answered. "Is having some problems. Namekians throughout the planet are disappearing and bases are being destroyed." Vegeta failed to see how that was their problem. "Elders and the dragon balls are disappearing too." Gohan added, knowing what Vegeta was likely thinking and as he had hoped, that piked Vegeta's interest. Anything relating to the Dragon Balls involved the Z warriors for whatever any creature wished could affect everyone in the galaxy and if those balls fell into the wrong hands... "Those who remained have contacted Dende and are asking for our help and with the vague details that we've received. We would like to err on the side of caution with strength. Originally myself and Piccolo were going to go since he has a personal interest and asked for my help but I'd feel a lot better if you and my father came, Vegeta." Vegeta thought over the offer for a minute. This whole thing could honestly be just a waste of time for him but what if it wasn't? He wasn't going to miss out on it and let Kakarrot take all the glory.

"We will not need your clown of a father." Vegeta finally answered after a minute of silence. Gohan grinned letting out a breath he had been holding.

"To be honest, you're probably right." He said, not wishing to make him change his mind. "But just to be on the safe side, I was hoping you'd both come." He finished carefully. Vegeta snorted.

"Fine, do as you wish. When do we leave?" He demanded, all business now.

"About a week from now - pretty much as soon as we finish figuring out who is all going." Gohan explained. "We've got the brains now." He said with a thankful smile towards Bulma who winked back. "And we've got more than enough brawn with you, my father, Piccolo and maybe the boys. What else do we really need, if anything else?" He asked.

"Entertainment." Josie piped up immediately, smiling. The grown-ups all turned to slowly look at her. They'd all but forgotten that she was still there. She knew that as well and had taken advantage of that in order to stay in the room throughout the conversation. Her loosing her voice had made her very very quiet and it was easy enough now to go unnoticed with her practically non existent ki. As soon as she had noticed the rest of the teenagers were no longer in the room she figured they would just as soon kick her out too for whatever grown-up matter they needed to discuss so she took a step back and made effort to not catch their attention. She happily smiled at them now.

"No." Vegeta said right away.

"Entertainment..?" Gohan repeated, confused.

"Entertainment." She confirmed with a firm nod. Gohan looked questioningly from Videl to Bulma, very perplexed.

"No." Vegeta repeated, arms crossed knowing very well what she was trying to achieve whether Gohan did or not.

"...Are you suggesting a television?" Gohan asked, scratching his head, very confused as to what he was missing that Vegeta apparently wasn't.

"No, Silly." Josie shot Vegeta a small glare as he once more said no. She stepped forward to stand before them, hands extended. "Me."

"-No." Vegeta quickly said right after. Bulma smacked his arm to tell him he was being rude. Josie shot him one more look as she brought her attention back to her jury.

"Please?" She asked, hopeful. Gohan frowned, mulling over the pro's and con's of taking the girl with them.

_We probably do have the space to spare since we have everything else we're going to need but is she really worth the trouble? what if she distracts us or gets in danger? Then again, it really wouldn't hurt to lighten the mood of the trip but what would Piccolo think?_

"Can I please?" I promise I won't be a nuisance." She said with a pout. "I won't distract you guys from training and I won't get myself in trouble, I've seen enough movies to know what to avoid." She said with a grin. "I'll stay out of your way during dangerous times and I'll help ease the tension you guys get so caught up when you're marching into danger. I'll help with anything on the ship and help cook and clean." She offered, arms entwined in front of her chest as pleaded her case.

"No." Vegeta said strongly.

"Vegeta!" Bulma scolded. Part of the appeal of this trip to him was time to get away from the nuisance that was this little enigma, the LAST thing he wanted to do was be stuck on a ship with her for days. "Look, I think, if she promises to stay on the ship with me and does not wander off she would be just fine," Bulma defended. "It would be really nice to have the company with me while you're all away and like you yourself said Gohan, all the extra muscle really is just precaution, hopefully nothing too bad will be up there but if there is. What can you guys not take care of? You're the best fighters in the universe!" Josie grinned impressed at Bulma's ability to manipulate to get her way, Bulma caught her grin and winked over at her.

"She does have a point." Videl said with an amused smile. Gohan sighed throwing his hands up in the air. "Gives me one less girl to look after here." She said laughing.

"...Sure, why not." Gohan said, knowing when he was outnumbered and unsure of how else to deal with this situation but than to cave in to the women's requests as he usually did since childhood. "You can come, Josie." He said with a smile, admitting to himself that he would like a chance to get to deal with one of these girls one on one and see if Piccolo's fears were founded in any truth. Josie's eyes widened, squeaking with joy she hopped in the air and threw her arms around Gohan.

"Ooh! you are the very best Gohan! Thank you! Bulma, Videl! thank you all so much.." Gohan shook his head as the girl pulled away and he couldn't help but smile at her contagious mood. "Thank you guys, you will not regret this- wait, when do we leave?" She asked, her eyes wide in horror having already forgotten everything she'd just heard a few minutes ago. Everything but the fact that she was getting to go out on an adventure with them. She squeaked again as she sprang up. "Oh gosh, theirs not enough time..." She mumbled panicked. "I need to go pack!" She said quickly, as she started to run out of the room and up the stairs. She ran back down. "Thanks again!" She shouted, before running back up the stairs, taking two at a time, before tripping, scrambling back up and running off again, leaving all the grown-ups laughing.


	18. Chapter 18: Making Boxers Blush

**Disclaimer:** I wish I owned more reviews? : ) I do not own DB/Z/GT

Thank you very much to my three reviews. I didn't even expect to get that much after the amount of time I abandoned the story for. A heartfelt thank you to you all and a special request that all those who have this story on subscribe that drop by write a quite note (even if it's anonymous) to say howdy. I love to hear from all of you.

**Dude where's My World:**

**Revised**

**Chapter 18: Making Boxers Blush**

"I'm going to need so many things.." Josie muttered to herself as she dug around her closet for a duffel bag that Bulma had put some of her belongings in earlier. She emptied out the contents in the closet, cringing at the mess she was making but disregarding it just as quickly as she closed the closet door to hide the mess. She went to a small dresser by the couch taking out clothes by the armfuls and dropping them on the bed messily; glancing throughout her room already thinking about the next thing she needed to get. She took two quick steps to her desk and and opened a drawer, pulling out her camera with a smile. "You never know.." She whispered happily.

"Talking to yourself again?" Josie looked over her shoulder, and there was Trunks, leaning his shoulder against her open doorway with his arms crossed. She rolled her eyes, tossing the camera on the bed as she went back to looking through the other drawers incase she was forgetting something else. "What are you doing?" He asked curiously.

"You didn't hear?" Josie asked, raising a brow as she disappeared into the bathroom, she stuck out her head a second later. "I'm leaving." Trunks eyes widened, as he stepped forward, going to the bathroom doorway.

"Leaving? Why!" He demanded. Josie shrugged, glancing over with annoyance that he was following her in there. "Look Josie, I m sorry about what I said earlier. Bra fessed up and trust me she is going to get hers but there's no need for you to leave- "Josie looked over at him with confusion, as she tried to pile her sun screen, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and brushes into her arms.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked somewhat rudely, frowning as she pushed past him and dropped her bathroom items onto the bed.

"Haven't you been listening?" Trunks asked, a little louder than he intended. The girl was damn infuriating, here he was trying to apologize for their argument earlier and she was dismissing him, being rude, and talking about going away? Where? and for how long? Did she even have anywhere else to stay or was she heading back to her home?

"Yes," She said briefly looking at him with agitation. "And I understood no word coming from your face." She started to go past him again to enter the bathroom once more and he grabbed her by the arm and turned her back towards him.

"Will you hold still for one damn minute?" He asked, practically growling. Josie pulled her arm away roughly.

"Don t touch me." She snapped, dusting herself off. "What the hell are you making such a big fuss for anyway?" Josie asked breathing out, exasperated with the purple haired teen. "I thought you were coming too." She said nonchalantly with a shrug. He choked suddenly on his saliva, startled. Josie watched him, confused, slowly going back to her bag and starting to fold some t-shirts, attempting to pack her belongings neatly. She was able to do this with relative peace for a minute in a half, before curiosity got the better of her and she turned around to see why Trunks was being so quiet all of a sudden. She found him sitting on her couch, staring at the ground with blush covering his cheeks.

"Trunks." Josie snapped her fingers. "What s wrong with you." She asked, confused. "..Didn't you know about this? Hello! It was bound to happen." She said with a smile, butterflies fluttering throughout her belly as she thought about her upcoming first adventure here. Although, the knowledge that this was not in any storyline that she had ever heard about was starting to nag the edges of her mind. She figured she should probably be more concerned than she was, but she was just so excited. She blinked, when she saw Trunks face redden even more and her eyes narrowed at that.

"That's it!" She shouted, throwing her hands up, as she marched towards him. She grabbed his arm and tugged at him to get up and he did so, stumbling a little, looking away from her. "I have no idea why you're tomato red right now, but I don t have the time, nor the patience to deal with it. Me and you have got to get packing, so go blush and pack in your room - because I'm not sure when we're leaving but it s best to be ready just incase its soon." She rationalized, pushing and nudging him towards the door.

"Josie I-I don t know." He started nervously. "Shouldn't we talk about this? It wasn't really expecting this and I don't know if it's too soon-" She frowned, going around him before he left her room.

"You think so?" She asked thoughtfully. She shrugged, figuring he was probably right, though she was unaware that the two were talking about two completely different things. "I guess it s possible.." She shook her head and grinned. "But I can't help but be excited, this is going to be incredible, Trunks." She insisted. "I've always wanted to do this.." She admitted with a shudder, getting chills at the idea of this trip. It was going to be incredible and life changing, she could feel it.

She smiled at him. "It s going to be amazing." She said simply. "WE are going to be amazing." She said looking up at him with excitement making him swallow nervously. "Now." She bit her bottom lip, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "Go get ready - all the stuff with Francis not important now." She said smiling. "So go." She said shooing him happily and closing the door behind him, grinning.

On the other side of the door Trunks remained, completely dumbfounded. Valerie passed by, chewing on some potato chips while on her way to her room when she saw Trunks standing there. She arched a brow, lowering the chip she was about to eat and coming to a stop right after passing him. She studied him for a minute, noticing the fact that he was completely oblivious to his surroundings at the moment.

She scratched her head briefly, looking around to see if anyone else was witnessing this oddball. She went around to stand in front of him, amused to see that he STILL was not even aware of her standing right there in front of him. He looked absolutely stupefied. She glanced at the door that he was standing in front of, and nodded in understanding. Josie. Yup. That girl could have that effect on people. She snickered in amusement and continued on into her room without a word.

...

Throughout the next few days Trunks avoided Josie at all costs and whenever it was unavoidable, such as dinner time, he'd barely say a word to her, constantly look away. The worst part was that that wasn't what was bothering her most, what bothered her the most was that whenever he was around her, he would, inevitably, blush; Continually, every time, without fail. Josie frowned as she paced in her room, she'd been trying to distract herself with some light reading, but was unable to concentrate because whenever she sat down, she would remember the blushing Briefs. It was very annoying and she knew that it had started that one day that they'd argued over some girl he was dating.

Josie rolled her eyes as she dropped down on the bed, tired of thinking about it. She leaned her head to the side, looking at her door and immediately got right back up heading right for it. Without another thought, she quickly knocked on Bra's door and opened it; not really waiting for the invitation because she refused to be in the hallway incase Bra's neighbor, Trunks, decided to peek his head out and goodness forbid, she thought angrily, blush again. Bra was wearing shorts and a tank top in bed, barefoot, painting her nails completely unbothered when Josie went in without waiting for permission. She glanced up at Josie with a smile as the elder girl made her way into the room and dropped her rump on Bra's bed, leaning her back against the wall. Bra let out an unhappy sound in her throat, frowning, as she raised her hands quickly to stop the nail polish from smudging.

"Hey Bra?" Josie asked, ignoring the cry of outrage.

'Yeah?" Bra asked, exhaling loudly as she glared at Josie's side going completely unnoticed.

"You have a minute to talk?" Josie asked, looking over at her, looking quite unhappy. Bra's glare softened, she rolled her eyes, nodding.

"..Yeah." She mumbled as she carefully went back to work on her nails.

"Okay." Josie said, taking a deep breath, as she looked at the far wall, trying to figure out how to word her question. "I m going to be frank with this." Bra nodded, still focused on her task.

"Yeah." Bra urged as she lightly blew on her nails to dry them. Josie glanced at her quickly - a little annoyed at Bra's very narrow use of the English language at the moment but just as quickly pushed it away choosing to focus on why she came.

"..Is Trunks ignoring me?" She asked, confused. Bra stopped what she was doing and lifted her head, giving the question some serious thought.

"Yeah." She admitted eventually, raising her knee up and putting her hand back on it, going back to carefully painting her nails.

"BRA." Josie scolded through a growled, glaring at the young teen.

"Yeah?" Bra asked, not bothering to look up anymore, as she concentrated on painting her pinky accurate with the latest hue of red she'd found at the mall the other day to match her favorite red outfit.

"Stop it!" Josie demanded, standing up, glaring down at the young half breed, hands on her hips. Bra blinked up at her for a beat - before shrugging lightly.

"Alright." She said easily. Josie immediately face vaulted anime style and growled a stream of curses as she awkwardly got up muttering to herself about not being an anime character and how it was ridiculous that she kept unintentionally doing that everything she saw/or someone said something shocking. Bra watched her go with a smile, shaking her head as she easily blew on her nails once more.

Josie came out of Bra s room mumbling and cursing when she noticed Trunks was heading towards his room, wrinkling his nose at a cup of coffee he was holding. He froze when he realized she was there and yup, as always, he blushed bright red to the tips of his ears; mumbling a hello and quickly going into his room without another word.

Josie s eyes narrowed on the closing door and quickly followed after him, pushing the door to keep it open. She heard a mumbled curse on the other side, and once more pushed it with no resistance, peeking inside where Trunks was wiping at his shirt that now had a coffee stain. Josie sighed.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled, going past the door and into his bathroom where she grabbed a hand towel, poured some water on it and went back into the room where he was already putting another shirt over his head. She chuckled, and threw the small towel aside now that that was useless. "I m really sorry about that." She repeated, unhappily. He glanced over, nodding, as he went into his bathroom and threw his dirty shirt in the laundry basket.

"Don t worry about it." He said, washing his hands. "Just hate the smell of coffee." He commented. Josie tentatively made her way to his bathroom doorway, confused.

"You do? But I see you drinking the stuff all the time." He chuckled as he dried his hands off with another towel and went past her back into his large bedroom and recovered his half spilled cup from his desk, turning around and leaning on the desk as he studied his cup. Josie watched him all the meanwhile, noticing that he still had yet to look her in the eyes at all.

"I've tried to get used to it because I figure in one or two years when I take over Capsule Corp, I m going to have a lot of late nights and this stuff," He said gesturing at the cup he was holding. "Is my mom's best friend." Josie wrinkled her nose.

"I don t envy you, I've never been able to drink the stuff." He shrugged as he took a sip.

"You get used to it." He said with a light smile. She nodded as she continued to eye him.

"Trunks, why have you been ignoring me?" She asked, confused, no longer interested in small talk wanting to just get down to the root of the problem. He automatically started to flush red. Her hands clenched.

"STOP IT!" She shouted, annoyed. "Stop blushing! this ISN'T a blushing matter!" He tightened his hold on the cup he was holding and shook his head trying to force out the words because he was tired of this awkwardness between them too. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly attempting to relax.

"Because of you, of what you said.." He finally admitted, his face bright red after the declaration. Josie nodded, confused, as she quickly licked her dry lips trying to remember what she could have possibly have said to him that had him ignoring her for this long.

"Okay, so it s something I said, alright." She nodded. "What was it I said that caused THIS." She said gesturing to him and then to herself.

"You said we'd leave together." He muttered, eyes firmly trained on the cup of coffee he was gently swirling in an attempt to hide his hands that shook. Josie's eyes went from his cup to his face, studying him with confusion, her eyebrows drawn down.

"I don t get what the problem is." Josie exclaimed, frustrated, as she sat roughly on Trunks bed. "We are going together, aren't we?" She asked confused, having been able to swear that he would jump at this chance. "Don't you want to?"

"Oh dear Kami." He groaned, dropping his head so that his hair covered a little of his burning face. "Don't put me on the spot like that.." He begged.

"What is the big deal?" She asked. "TRUNKS!" Josie growled, getting up again and taking his cup roughly from his hands and setting it aside. She stood in front of him and crossed her arms. "Briefs, look at me!" She demanded. He shook his head, eyes closed.

"You need to give me a second Josie." He muttered. She threw her hands in the air, spinning back towards the bed and sitting on the edge, plating her elbows on her knees, chin on her fists, glaring at the lavender haired teen in silence. After a few minutes of heavily silence, Trunks took a deep breath and opened an eye, carefully raising his head and noticing Josie was in the same position, still glaring from his bed. He swallowed heavily and sighed.

"Sorry." He mumbled. She nodded, continuing to glare. "I just.. I didn't realize that you-you never said," He threw his arms up, exasperated. "And it just caught me off guard." He shook his head, trying hard not to blush.

"What do you mean I never said?" Josie prodded, not wanting him to clam back up. "I said it just the other day! Right before all of this blushing started." She reminded.

"But before that! You never-"

"Well I didn't KNOW back then!" She argued, defensively. He stared at her wide eyed, unable to believe that she was being so flippant about the whole thing.

"What, you mean to tell me you suddenly realized it?" He asked in disbelief. "Just the other day? like that?"

"I didn't have to realize anything! The others told me about it - and of course it was the other day, when else would it be?" She asked, stupefied. He was being so ridiculous, why was he so upset and obsessed over their trip to Namek?

"Others?" He asked, wide eyed. "Who knows?" She looked up at him, confused.

"..I don't know; Gohan and Videl, Piccolo and your parents." She said with a careless shrug.

"HOW THE HELL DOES PICCOLO KNOW?" Trunks shouted, grabbing the crazy girl from the shoulders and lifting her up off into the air. She growled, smacking at his arms quickly making him let her go. She landed on her feet bouncing lightly up and down on his bed till the bed evened out. She took no notice as she continued to glare at him - now at eye level with him.

Don't. Know!" She bit out, dusting herself off, annoyed with the grabbing. " I imagine Dende told him-and by Kame, if you ask me how the hell he knows I am going to shave your head in your sleep, Trunks Briefs, I swear it.." She threatened. He glared back silently. "Is them knowing really the point though? What does it matter if they know? If they didn't know, we never would have found out, so I'm glad they know." She said reasonably. "We'd never get this chance otherwise." She explained sighing and eyeing him wearily as he started to blush again. "Anyway, I can't force you to come with us but the offer is there." She said shrugging and lightly jumping off the bed and going towards the door.

"Wait, with us?" He repeated, turning towards her. She looked back him, confused.

"Yeah. With me, Gohan, your mom, Dad, Piccolo, Goku, and maybe Goten." His stomach sank with embarrassment and his heart raced as his mind went a million hours an hour putting all the pieces together of what had happened within the last few days.

"You're talking about the trip to Namek, aren t you?" He finally asked, mortified. Josie looked even more puzzled as she practically saw the horror on his face.

"Duh, what did you think I was talking about?" She asked, turning back fully around to study him better. He shook his head attempting to smile while inside he wanted to bash his head into the wall, call himself an idiot over and over, and not see this girl for the next year knowing he would never live this down if she found out.

"Trunks?" She asked, arching a brow while her arms unconsciously crossed. "What did you think I was doing?"

"Nothing Josie." Trunks replied all too quickly, wanting her to just leave his room already. He took a seat on his bed hoping that his nonchalant position would both make him look at ease and also make her feel more inclined to leave. He sighed in annoyance when he noticed her approach him instead of leave the room. The damn girl never took a hint. Her arms remained crossed as she studied the withdrawn teen.

"You're such a bad liar." She said in disbelief as she shook her head. She crouched down in front of him and smiling at the once more embarrassed Trunks. "Nothing wouldn't make you avoid me like the plague for the last couple of days." She stated, reasonably. "What did you think I was doing?" She repeated.

"Do we really have to talk about this Josie?" He asked, frustrated as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Yes!" She insisted, putting a hand lightly on his knee, giving him a comforting smile. "Whatever it is Trunks, you can tell me, we're friends, right?" She asked rhetorically. He looked towards the window, knowing he wouldn't be able to tell her if he looked straight at her.

"I thought you were running away. You said you were leaving.." He finally admitted, groaning in shame, as he started to blush to the tip of his ears once more still refusing to look her way.

"...That still doesn't make any sense, why would you thinking I was running away make you blush like a school-girl every time you saw me." She asked, confused. He growled, narrowing his eyes, despite his heavy blush.

"I did not blush like a school-girl" He defended, angrily. Josie grinned in amusement.

"Whatever dude," She said waving it off. "But that still doesn't explain-"

"LET IT GO JOSIE, WHY WON T YOU JUST LET IT GO!" Trunks blew up, frustrated as he sprang up and took two long steps away from her. Josie s eyes narrowed watching him.

"DO YOU NOT KNOW ME AT ALL?" She asked rhetorically as she stood up. "How do you expect me to let it go when you've being freaken weird as all-"

"You are so annoying!" He growled angrily, keeping his back to her.

"I'M ANNOYING? She asked in outrage, taking a step forward. "I m not the one-"

"I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO RUN AWAY WITH ME!" He finally shouted out, turning back towards her. "Okay?" Josie blinked, mouth left open and for once, completely speechless. Trunks breathed heavily as he watched the expressions flicker across her face ranging from shock, to confusion, to embarrassment where it stayed as a bright flush started to slowly appear on her cheeks. He snorted on a laugh at that, he'd** never** managed to make her blush before, not once. She immediately caught the noise and her eyes narrowed on him. He shook his head, unable to help it as he dropped himself on his bed, his back lying flat with his arm draped over his face as his body continued to shake with laughter.

"Sorry." He choked out between laughter. She watched him anxiously for a minute as he shook on the bed, and as hard as she bit her bottom lip to try to stop the oncoming laughter, her own shoulders started to shake with laughter as well as she leaned back on Trunks desk for support. As soon as he raised just his head off the bed to look at her they just lost it and howled with laughter.

Next door Bra was trying very hard to focus on favorite TV show but the stupid sounds of her Josie and Trunks laughing like hyenas was grating on her nerves and she could only turn the volume so loud on her smaller TV.

"That's it." She mumbled as she got up off her bed and set her stuff aside on her desk as she left her room giving Valerie a brief wave as she passed by. She entered Trunks room in another swift moment and marched straight for Josie. "Totally stoked that you two made up." She made sure to tell her... before swiftly (Albeit gently) kicking her in the shins. "But KEEP IT DOWN!" She finished as she threw her first, somewhat harder, into her brother's exposed abdomen on his bed as she turned to leave.

"OW!" They both cried out, holding their respectively hurt body parts.

"Jinx." Bra said easily as she stepped outside of his room. "You both owe me slavery for half an hour!" She called back as she made her way back into her room. "I'll be in my room with my commands ready!" Then the door slammed shut. A moment of silence passed between Trunks and Josie.

"You have a mean little sister, you know that?" Josie asked as she continued to rub at her shins.

"Tell me about it.." He muttered unhappily.

...

"Well, that was weird." Valerie said conversationally as she entered the common room that the youngest Brief members enjoyed so much.

"What is?" Goten asked, looking over and thanking Valerie as she handed him a drink.

"I think Bra just beat the crap out of Trunks and Josie." Goten almost spit the large gulp of soda he had just inhaled but managed to swallow painfully and grin.

"I wish I could have seen that." He said chuckling as he chucked his soda can on the table nearby. He put down his controller as Valerie made herself comfortable once more on the opposite couch as she studied the TV screen.

"So we've been playing this game for an hour now, you think we're any closer to defeating these zombies?" She asked, as she nodded at the screen. He dutifully looked over at the television.

"Well... we've died about seven times and are still on the same level as we were thirty minutes ago. What do you think?" He asked, grinning.

"I think we may have been a bit over confident in choosing to play this in Ultra Legendary." Valerie responded. He shrugged in reply.

"It sounded cool at the time." She shook her head smiling. "Hey Val?" He asked, smiling when she turned to look at him.

"Yes?"

"..Do you think you're going to finish your drink?" Valerie raised a brow as she eyed the unopened can that she had JUST set down a few minutes ago.

"You've got to be kidding me." She said simply.

"Hey you two." Josie greeted with a smile as she entered the room holding a tray of food and drinks.

"..What is THAT." Goten asked, eyes wide and a little drool in the corner of his mouth. Josie looked at her tray and shrugged.

"Some snacks for her Imperial Highness." She replied with as much sarcasm as she could produce. Valerie tilted her head in response and Josie could only shrug once more.

"Bra jinxed me and Trunks." She said with a light frown. "She's demanded food and drinks from me and Trunks is fluffing her pillows for her."

"Can she Jinx that kind of demand?" Valerie asked, eyes wide. Josie shook her head, looking exasperated as all hell.

"I have no damn idea but go figure Vegeta's daughter would think of such a cruel twist to this game. I... think she's.. possibly as evil as I am." She hesitated to admit, looking genuinely perturbed. Valerie gasped and Josie nodded, face drawn in worry. "I know." She said with a sigh. Goten arched a brow looking between both girls.

"...You can't be that bad, can you Josie?" Goten asked scratching the top of his head.

"HA!" Valerie choked on her laugh as she coughed, hitting her own chest to clear her lungs. Josie chuckled lightly and watched Valerie in amusement then turned back to Goten with a small smile.

"What do you think?" She asked, amused.

"I don't think you're so bad.." Goten insisted with a shrug. Josie's eyes narrowed at him.

"Ask me for something on this tray." She demanded. His eyes lit up with hope not realizing he was being set up.

"Can I have some of those crackers?" He asked, hopeful. Josie grabbed a handful of crackers in her palm and crushed them, dissolving it entirely making him gasp with such horror that anyone else witnessing his expression could have sworn he had just seen a group of orphans slaughtered before his very eyes. Josie smirked and turned around to leave.

"S-she's a monster.." He whispered, looking down at his lap, depressed at the tragic waste of food. Valerie sighed and came over to his side of the couch, sitting closest to the TV and patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"I know." Valerie comforted, nodding. "I know." A few seconds later a bright red apple flew into the room and hit Goten right on his right temple making him blink as the apple bounced on his shoulder and fell into his open palms on his lap. His eyes lit up and he immediately looked towards the hall for the source but only saw Josie's retreating pony tail. He grinned happily.

"THANK YOU!" He shouted.

...

Down the hall Josie entered Bra's room where Trunks was color coordinating Bra's nail polish collection by favorite to least on one of her shelves she had on her wall.

"Green should go first." She ordered, "That's my favorite... no it should go after the reds.." She corrected, unsure. Trunks glanced over at Josie who stood at the doorway and he gestured shooting himself and crossed his eyes with his tongue out making her chuckle catching Bra's attention for a moment.

"What took you so long." Bra asked as Josie set the tray by her bedside, not bothering to answer the question knowing fully well that the pre-teen was asking more so for the pleasure of getting to do so rather than because she actually cared about the answer and she was right. Bra had already forgotten what she had asked her and was going through the items on the tray nodding with approval. "..What about the apple I asked for?" She asked.

"I ate it on the way here." Josie lied easily with a smile. Bra rolled her eyes but finally smiled, getting a bit bored with the boss card when she was bossing around the person she most enjoyed being herself around.

"Thirty minutes are almost up." Trunks reminded as he glared at the nail polish bag he had just noticed on the other counter, unhappily marching to it.

"Whatever." She said, sticking her tongue out at her older brother, having absolutely no problem bossing HIM around. Bra rolled on to her stomach and reached for the magazine at the end of her bed and called Josie over, patting the spot next to her. "I have a question for you." She said as soon as Josie started to make herself comfortable.

"Shoot." Josie said with a smile as she took the offered magazine.

"What kind of guys are you into?" Bra asked, smiling at the shocked look on Josie's face.

"...Er." Josie had NO idea how it was that this little girl managed to catch her off guard. All the time. "I don't know..." She said honestly after a minute, neither girl realizing that Trunks was shaking his head and blushing a few feet away, completely uncomfortable with the topic.

"Well, which of these guys do you find hot?" Bra asked simply, leafing through the pages looking for the top 40 cuties in the world that this magazine had just declared. "My mom knows a lot of these from all the events she has run and has been too, chances are that she could hook you up with one of them. She says I'm too young to date." She Josie cringed as Bra began pointing a few out.

"I'm... not really into anime guys, Bra." Josie attempted to explain.

"HA!" Bra snorted as she flipped to the next page of candidates. "That's a major lie!" She figured since they had gotten Valerie a date it was only fair that she keep an eye out for her other eligible friend.

"Is not!" Josie argued reverently, outraged at the accusation.

"Is too!" Bra threw back, looking over right at her, challengingly.

"Nu uh." Josie denied, tongue out, feeling childish but not caring at this particular moment.

"Yuh huh." Bra said with a grin.

"Girls." Bra looked past Josie and Josie turned her head to the side to the front door where Bulma stood with an amused smile. "What are you two bickering about."

"We're not bickering. We're discussing males and Josie won't admit that she likes guys from our world." Bulma raised an eyebrow at that, smile widening.

"Oh?" She asked, intrigued. "None huh?"

"No! seriously! I like HUMAN guys." Josie defended loudly, feeling more and more outnumbered by the minute.

"But the guys here ARE human." Bra argued rolling her eyes.

"You know what I mean!" Josie sat up on her haunches, too fired up to continue laying on her stomach. "My home type of humans!"

"Well that's not very nice, that's racist." Trunks finally added his two cents in, his back still turned, feeling way too uncomfortable with everything that had happened earlier to say that to Josie's face. He missed Josie's eyes narrowing on his back.

"Yeah, you're so just lying to yourself because you so do!" Bra added.

"I DON'T. DIG. ALIENS!" Josie shouted, arms in the air making Bulma laugh from the doorway.

...

"Do you hear that?" Goten asked Valerie as he finished the last good bite of his apple and threw it lightly in the air before consuming the remainder.

"Hear what?" She asked, looking at his throat swallow the stem and everything with some mild disgust at his eating abilities.

"TJ, they're arguing again." Goten said, patting his belly content.

"Again?" Valerie asked with surprise. "Shh." He quieted as instructed and she was vaguely able to hear Josie and Trunks shouting about... aliens? "I hear them alright." She said shaking her head lightly. "I'm over this, let's go stop them." Valerie suggested, standing up and grabbing a few of the couch pillows and lightly throwing them at Goten who stood up with a handful, confused.

"What are we going to do with these?" He asked as he followed after her, not receiving an answer. The closer they got to the scene the clearer and louder they could hear the pointless argument.

"WHAT'S SO WRONG ABOUT BEING AN ALIEN?" Trunks voice echoed.

"NOTHING! Lower your damn voice baka! If I had a problem with them, WHY ON EARTH WOULD I BE TALKING TO **YOU**!" Valerie face-palmed as she entered her bedroom without another word and took as many pillows as she cold hold against her body. It was just such a stupid argument.

"Hey." Valerie greeted Bulma at the doorway to Bra's room, distracted. Bulma eyed the fluffy pillows with curiosity. "You should stand back." Valerie recommended as she began to enter the room, looking for a target while Goten stood right behind her, ready to launch a follow up attack.

"And WHILE we are on the subject-AHH!" Josie jumped in shock when a pillow hit her temple, she blinked and immediately saw one hit Trunks square in the face a moment later making him stumble back from the force. "...Did somebody just throw a..-" She ducked this time as another one came hurtling towards her face. "HEY!" She shouted, frowning. "That's enough of that!" She scolded quickly reaching around Bra to grab a pillow herself and hurled it at Valerie across the room and quickly threw two more lightly at Trunks so he could help

"What are you guys doing!" Bra demanded, kneeling on her bed. "I don't want feathers all over my-EEP!" Her eyes widened and she attempted useless to cover her face as she was attacked by an onslaught of pillows from either side.

...

Thirty minutes later feathers were strewn all throughout her pink large room. Josie and the others were on the ground, trying to catch their breath.

"You know I never even felt a feather pillow until we came here." Josie said to the others, conversationally as she blew a feather that landed on her nose. Bra groaned as she forced herself to get up into a sitting position on her bed, surveying the damage to her room and shaking her head.

"Somebody's going to have to clean this up..." She reminded.

"Not me." Josie quickly shouted, followed by Trunks leaving Bra to stare with an arched brow at Valerie and Goten.

"Way to go, Goten." Valerie said, jokingly as she lazily hit Goten with a pillow to the face that she had within hands reach. He grunted lightly and laughed as he attempted to roll out of harms way a few seconds too late.

"How is it my fault?" He asked through his laughter.

"I don't know." She said, complaining as she sat up leaning her palms behind her as she eyed the feathered ground. "I just figured, it somehow is."

"Well, I'm off to go get these feathers out of my hair." Bra said in disgust as she furiously ran her fingers through her hair and went into her brothers room to borrow his shower without bothering to ask.

"Good brother, can I borrow your shower? Sure, sis, why not." Trunks imitated an interaction between himself and Bra sarcastically making Josie smile. She shook her head and signaled for him to follow her to her room.

"You can borrow mine if you'd like?" She offered politely as they entered her room. As soon as she got a visual of her bed, she jumped eagerly for it, landing lightly on her back as she stared up at the ceiling feeling completely spent and relaxed. She folded her arms behind her head and looked over at Trunks who quietly thanked her and entered her bathroom.

"Hey Trunks?" Josie called, noticing he hadn't bothered to close the bathroom yet as he inspected the damage in her bathroom mirror.

"Yeah?"

"What DO you know about the trip?" She asked, sitting up and bringing her knees to her chest.

"Well," He started as he dusted at his shirt. "My mom's been kind of busy so all I've heard so far was from my father and the extent of that conversation was as follows; Son, you're going with me and Gohan to Namek." He explained, mimicking his father's voice for the last portion of that conversation. Josie grinned at his father's impersonation.

"..That is the worst Vegeta impression I've ever heard." He turned his head and glared at her. "Seriously." She said her grin widening. "I think you were closer to the mark with the impression of your baby sister."

"Shut up." He said laughing as he closed the door. A few minutes later she heard the shower turning on and heard a beeping noise coming from the wall nearest to her bathroom door. Josie tilted her head to the side, curious, and got up to investigate that wall, knowing that an intercom had to be there the way it had been in Valerie's room. She pushed and poked at it until an intercom finally popped out.

"Super cool." Josie laughed.

"Josie?" She heard Bulma's voice call.

"Yes? What's up Bulma?"

"I'm calling a family meeting in the main living room downstairs. I told Goten and Valerie in Bra's room and they said that she was showering?"

"She is." Josie confirmed.

"Well, if you can find Trunks for me too and let him know. It's about the trip." Josie's curiosity soared to a whole new high and she felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

"Alright." Josie said smiling. "I'll tell him. He just got in the shower though, fifteen minutes okay?"

"That's perfect." Bulma assured. They disconnected shortly and Josie waited as long as possibly before finally knocking on Trunks door to let him know. She left the room and gave him a chance to change while she told Bra as well of what was going on. Josie knocked on her own bedroom door and waited until Trunks allowed her in.

"Come-on!" She said enthusiastically, grabbing his wrist and dragging him out of the room and pushing him down the hall where the others were beginning to make their way down the hall together, chattering eagerly.

They all got to the living room a few minutes later where Vegeta and Bulma were talking to each other, sitting on the couch right in front of the large window that over looked the residences front yard.

"Hey kids." Bulma said with a smile as she signaled that they should sit.

"What's up, mommy?" Bra asked as she took a seat between the still very feathery Valerie and Josie.

"I just wanted to let you know that the trip has been moved up to two days." Bulma informed, cutting right to the chase. "More Nameks are coming up missing and Piccolo is getting anxious to go lend a hand. Goten, your mother wants you to go home so you two can finish preparing for the trip." Bulma said smiling at the youngest Son member. He nodded, blinking surprised at all the news and gave them all a wave and went to the front door.

"See you guys in two days." He said with a smile, quickly leaving.

"Josie, are you sure you still want to go?" Bulma asked frankly. "With more people missing as quickly as they are, things are becoming more serious and I don't know if it's such a good idea.."

"Oh Bulma don't say that." Josie begged, worried. "I really wanna do this. It's not like this changes anything for me. I never intended to go out fight anybody so I'll be fine. I'll stay with you all the time." She assured. Bulma nodded with a smile.

"Alright, I just want you to know if you change your mind it's completely okay but you have to promise to listen to me."

"Duh." Josie said with a big grin. "I won't do anything stupid, I promise." Bulma exhaled, satisfied and looked at Trunks.

"And you son, do you still want to go?" He nodded.

"Totally." He said with a smile. "What's happening is terrible, I'll help however I can."

"Good. There's nothing more to discuss." His father said shortly, eager to get back to his training, wanting to be in top physical condition for when they took off, not ashamed of the fact that he was looking forward to training with Kakarrot in space more than whatever battle awaited them in Namek. He was confident that whatever awaited them there they could easily dispose of. Receiving no further argument to the contrary Vegeta got up and exited through the kitchen.

"Alrighty then... I guess meeting adjourned." Bulma said with a light laugh as she patted her knees and got up.

"Bulma?" Valerie asked, hesitantly as they all got up to leave. "Is there really no way that... I can go too?" She asked, embarrassed. Bulma looked at her apologetically.

"Sweetheart, I wish you could. I already asked Gohan earlier and he really doesn't want to bring anyone else. I'm sorry." She said sighing. "I really should have thought it through more before agreeing to let Josie come."

"What? noo." Josie's eyes widened in horror, she reached behind Bra and smacked Valerie behind the head. "She doesn't want to go, right Val? right?" Her eyes narrowed as she mouthed for her to agree, practically hissing at her friend. Valerie rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Right. It's fine, thank you for asking anyway Bulma." She said with a smile for the older woman who gave her a hug.

"Next time, Val, I promise." She assured as she pulled away. "Besides, you'll have a great time with the girls. Have you had any time to spend with Pan?" She asked, when she received a head shake signaling no, she smiled. "You're in for a treat. Her and Bra can't stand still, mark my words that they'll find SOME way to get in to trouble." She assured with a grin.

"Aint that the truth." Trunks muttered as she walked around them and back to his room to finish preparing.

"Psh. Josie?" Bra asked. "Do you want me to help you finish getting your stuff ready?" Bra offered as those two made their way out of the room; Valerie faintly making out Josie agreeing as long as Bra didn't try to make her take anything too scandalous.

"You sure you're okay with this Valerie?" Bulma asked once the two were alone. Valerie nodded.

"...Yeah." She finally said. "I'm nervous to stay while you're all away and in danger but... Josie really, really wants this so, she can have this one." Valerie offered with a light shrug. "Like you said, it's unlikely this will be the only time the world's in trouble, right?" She said more than asked with a grin as she started to leave the room. "There** has** to be a ton more bad guys to come if me and Josie didn't know about whatever evil force THIS is, right?" She asked enthusiastically not noticing the sweat drop that appeared on Bulma's face as she nervously considered what Valerie said.

"Haha... right. That's t-the.." Bulma gulped. "Spirit."

**Note: Please review.** I'll try my best to update on Sundays from now on! Ja ne!

"


	19. Chapter 19: Nervous Nellie

**Disclaimer**: I'd check out many of the other disclaimers from the other chapters : )

Thank you reviewers: So much (Also to those who put the story on watch) Please please keep telling me what you like about the story so I can continue to keep it the way you like it. Suggestions are always welcome. Thank you so much again.

**Dude Where's My World:**

**Revised**

**Chapter 19: Nervous Nelly.**

"You're getting nervous huh?" Bra asked eyeing Josie as she distractedly walked from her desk to the bathroom and finally to her closet, attempting to look at every part of her room to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything. Josie glanced at her, laughing nervously.

"That obvious?" She asked, embarrassed, touching her blushing cheeks.

"There's nothing to be nervous 'bout." Bra assured, winking as she lightly jumped and sat on Josie's bed. "We didn't miss a thing. You're set to go, girl." She assured.

"I guess I'm tired too. I just didn't sleep very much." Josie mumbled.

Somehow it was two morning later already and almost time for their flight to take off. All the teenagers, minus Goten had gathered once more together at night time in the Common Hall and chattered about all the plans that they had while they were all going to be away from each other. When the clock passed midnight Trunks had ushered Josie to her room and insisted that she get some sleep because she would need it early the next morning; only to be followed back into his room ten minutes later where she sat against his desk on the ground and talked to him for the next hour until she was ready to try to sleep again.

"You sure know a lot about this for a girl that hasn't travelled to fight villains before." Josie commented, yawning as she rubbed her face, a tail-tale sign that she was nervous, Bra had started to realize.

"Not to fight villains but yeah, a lot of traveling." Bra assured, grinning. Josie picked up her packed and unpacked camera and decided once and for all to bring it.

"SHAMPOO!" Josie shouted suddenly, surprising Bra.

"What?" She asked laughing. Josie rushed to the bathroom and retrieved her favorite shampoo from this world; Lavender daffodil. She didn't even know that daffodil's could smell like anything but she fell in love with it when she did some shopping to have belongings of her own and couldn't put it down since. She wiggled it at Bra who only chuckled more and put it away in a smaller compartment of her luggage. She closed it gently and kept her hand there for a minute.

"It's just... so weird, Bra." Josie continued.

"What's weird?" Bra asked, tilting her head.

"Traveling to space?" Josie asked, turning briefly to her in complete wonderment. "Who does that?" She asked rhetorically with a shake of her head. "Not me."

"Why not you?" Bra asked grinning in disbelief.

"Because who am I?" Josie asked laughing. "To be here, to be doing this... I'm nobody Bra." She shook her head as soon as she saw Bra was about to argue that. "No, really, Bra," She insisted firmly. " Back home, I'm nobody. I'm going... no where. My grades suck, I have no desire to stay in school for college or any future planned at all and... and now I'm here," She swallowed with some difficulty. "With YOU guys," She laughed. "And I'm going to space?" All she could do was shake her head again and smile over at Bra who looked at her with shock.

...

Half an hour later Bra was behind Josie holding her by the shoulders as she lead her down the stairs to the main floor in the living room where her mother was just hanging up the phone. Bulma looked over at the two girls and smiled.

"Jitters?" Bulma asked Josie, with a knowing smile.

"Of course not." Josie covered, taking a step forward and smirking as she started pulling her hair up to her usual pony tail. "Everything almost set?" She asked conversationally. Bulma glanced at her daughter behind Josie who only grinned at Josie's cover and shrugged at her mother.

"Yes. Just making sure that everything is taken care of here while I'm gone." Bulma replied. "Where's your luggage?" She asked, signaling at Josie's empty hands.

"I threw it out the window." Josie explained, as she attempted to adjust the somewhat crooked up-do.

"Excuse me?" Bulma asked, startled into laughing as she turned to fully face the girls and followed them towards the backyard.

"Trunks and Goten were down there so I threw it at them." Josie added, smiling as they made their way outside where Goten and Trunks were chasing each other around, lightly blasting at the pool in the air to cause the water to swell and come out near where Valerie was on the ground, constantly moving out of the way and cursing up at them with her fist in the air. To the right of that action they saw Gohan with his family, reaching down to hug Pan and Videl.

"I'm going to miss you." Pan admitted to her father. "Are you sure I can't go?" Gohan smiled at his little girl and ruffled her hair.

"No, kiddo. I want you to stay here and protect the girls." Pan blew her bangs in frustration as she nodded.

"I understand, Papa." Pan said downtrodden.

"What's with the long face?" Goku asked with a tender smile for his granddaughter as he and his wife approached his son's family.

"I wish I could go, grandpa." Pan frowned as she turned and received a hug from her grandfather.

"HEY GOTEN!" Gohan shouted as he turned towards the teenagers goofing off in the air. Goten froze in the air and went over to his family to say his last goodbyes figuring that's what his older brother was yelling at him about. Trunks lowered down to the ground as well, grinning apologetically at Valerie who was glaring daggers at him.

"Sorry, Val. Just our way of showing you we'll miss you." He said grinning, throwing up a peace sign. She rolled her eyes and waved off the apology with a smile, turning to Josie who came to stand next to her.

"Want me to put dye in his shampoo bottle for you?" Josie offered conversationally, arms crossed. Valerie laughed and shook her head.

"Maybe some other time." Trunks flicked at Josie's pony tail in annoyance.

"Thanks for the bag to the face by the way." He reminded, irritated. Josie grinned over at him as his mom got on the ship with his father. Josie saw it through her peripheral and her smile faded.

"Is it time?" She asked, startled. Trunks looked over his shoulder back at where people were starting to board and nodded.

"Looks like." He agreed turning back to the two with a grin. "Let's go, Josie!" He said reaching down to grab Josie's wrist and beginning to pull. Josie quickly pulled her hand away and smiled hesitantly signaling for him to go ahead.

"I'll meet you in a minute." She assured. He nodded and ruffled Valerie's head.

"I'll see you in a few weeks, kid." He said fondly with a smile. "Don't get in too much trouble with my little sister."

"I'll try." Valerie said dryly, whacking his hand off her head making him laughing. He jogged to the others saying his goodbyes as Valerie turned to Josie, studying her friend.

"You're nervous..." Valerie finally realized, shocked. This was the first time that she had seen Josie genuinely nervous since they'd arrived at this planet.

"PSH." Josie rolled her eyes, immediately defensive. Valerie grinned and shook her head.

"Don't give me that crap. Who betters knows you than your very own apparent sidekick. So what's up? cold feet?" She asked curiously, tilting her head.

"Just never done this before." Josie let out with an attempted nonchalant shrug as she continued to eye the others get on board while her stomach twisted with nerves.

"Well duh but that's the whole point, right?" Valerie asked rhetorically. "Dude?" Josie glanced at her. "You'll be great." She assured with a hand to Josie's shoulder on an exhale. "I'll admit I'm jealous but I'm glad one of us is getting to do this... and honestly I'm not quite sure that I'm ready to see a villain in person yet." Josie nodded with a sigh, **completely **understanding what Valerie was talking about. That was part of what had her nervous. "Just have fun." Valerie ordered lightly with a smile. "Enjoy the ride, dude... and call me when you find out details about what it may be."

"We must really be screwing things up to have a new disaster hit this universe while we're here, huh?" Josie asked receiving an immediately nod.

"Oh you better believe we are messing s*** up." Valerie agreed enthusiastically making Josie laugh out loud as they conversationally made their way to the ship. Josie turned to Valerie as she finally stood on the walkway of the ship, turning to her constant source of amusement and her only friend that let her walk all over her for her own amusements sake.

"I'll see you later, Val." Josie said, feeling a lot more relaxed, giving her friend a genuine smile. Valerie saluted he back.

"Hai. Sayonara, boss." Valerie winked.

"Don't get in to too much trouble while I'm gone, eh?" Josie asked, grinning.

"Oh you better bet they'll be trouble." Bra assured coming up behind Valerie and putting an arm around her shoulder. Pan stood on Valerie's other side and grinned.

"Plenty of trouble." She assured. The door started to close but Josie managed to see Videl look somewhat concerned at that.

"I should worry, shouldn't I?" Josie faintly heard Videl ask and chuckled to herself as she made her way to the large spherical cockpit where the others were currently buckling in. Bulma patted her seat next to hers, which dutifully Josie came too. Bulma went through a systems check to make sure everything was good to go and explained the procedure of take off to Josie who avidly watched, marveling at all the equipment Bulma had custom built.

"Nothings going to fall off like last time, is it?" Goku asked from the back. Bulma snapped her head back to glare at her longtime friend.

"No, shut up Goku!" Trunks and Vegeta chuckled as Goku shrunk back into his seat. Josie smiled at the scene, leaning a bit hard to get a good look back since her seat belt tightly attempted to hold her in place. She noticed Piccolo to the far back of the seating area and the only amongst them to not be buckled in instead opting to sit in a meditating state.

"Hey Mr. Piccolo, why aren't you in your seat?" Bulma rolled her eyes as she faced back forward humming the machine to life. Josie continued to stare at him in question, choosing to focus on him rather than the take off.

"Human restraints will not be better suited to keep me upright than my own strength. I'll be fine." He spat out in irritation at having attention drawn to him.

"Suit yourself." Bulma said with annoyance, taking off abruptly. Josie blinked as Piccolo rolled back unwillingly in a ball and hit the furthest wall from the room hard.

"SON OF A-" Josie muffled her laughter with her hands at Piccolo's unexpected language as the ship's nose pointed directly up; she faced forward and stared wide eyed at the fast moving space in front of the ship taking a deep breath to scream.

They soon got out of earth's atmosphere and the ship quieted once again as they moved more calmly through space. Josie's eyes didn't move from the glass before her, staring wide eyed past that into the seemingly infinite galaxy as the others began to unbuckle themselves.

"Idiot." Vegeta commented about Piccolo's choice of seating, smirking as he crossed his arms and left the cockpit intending to go straight to training in the gravity room on the lower deck.

"Are you alright, Piccolo?" Goku asked, scratching his head as he stood in front of his friend. Piccolo grumbled as he got up, a purple blush staining his cheeks as he left the room without a word rubbing his ears. Goku shrugged, turning to Bulma.

"Thanks for setting up the rooms, Bulma! What time is lunch?"

"Two hours." Bulma called back, distracted. Goku's grin widened as he nodded and finally left leaving on Goten, Trunks and Josie with the Pilot.

"You doing okay there, champ?" Trunks asked, smiling as he put a hand on Josie's shoulder, noticing the girl had still yet to say anything.

"Well... her voice is definitely back to normal." Goten added with a cringe, rubbing his own ears from Josie's screaming at take off. "Probably didn't help Piccolo's mood either." He said smiling ruefully. Bulma looked over at Josie who still stared open mouthed at the sky.

"You two go ahead back with the others and start training. I'll call you first when lunch is done, alright?" Bulma offered, smiling as her boys high fived each other and ran out of the room. Bulma set the ship to self navigate towards their destination and unbuckled herself, crouching next to Josie. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" She asked with a sympathetic smile. Josie finally looked over at her.

"It's so beautiful." She mumbled. Bulma looked over again and smiled. A blanket of stars in a dark galaxy with dusted shapes and worlds that Josie never thought possible infinitely surrounded her.

Hours passed on both the ship as the men continued to train vigorously in the lower decks that contained a large gravity chamber and a training room with a medical wing between the two. Josie had stayed with Bulma as she explained the mechanics of the ship and had chosen to remain in the cockpit leaning her chin on her arms that were on a console without buttons, choosing to stay and look at the sky as Bulma went to go make the boys lunch. Bulma took a shower and came back to find her still there with a half eaten sandwich and a juice carton by her feet.

"Well I'm glad you at least ate something." Bulma said laughing as she sat on the arm of her own pilot chair and faced Josie. "You sure you're okay? you're feeling alright?" Josie looked over and smiled, nodding.

"I just never think I'll see something like this again." She said quietly. "I want to make sure I never forget one inch of it." Bulma nodded, glancing out the window once more.

"There will be more chances." She assured. "For now though... I have a surprise for you." Josie began to sit up at that and arched a brow.

"You do?" Her attention gathered, Bulma grinned and took Josie's hand helping her stand up and lead her down the hallway.

"Keep in mind, I have absolutely no idea if you'll like this - it's honestly mostly for my peace of mind but I'm hoping you wont mind terribly." Bulma explained more thoroughly as they made their way down metal stairs to the lower part of the ship where the others were training. Josie tilted her head to the side but continued to follow silently as they made their way to one of the training areas that was devoid of fighters except for Trunks and Goten.

"She ready?" Trunks asked, stopping his fight with Goten. Bulma nodded. "Cool." He said, grinning.

"Have fun, sweetie. Don't hurt her." Bulma warned as she left the boys and a very confused Josie.

"What's... happening?" Josie asked, confused as Goten circled behind her.

"We're training you." Goten said easily, as he put his hands on both her shoulders and instructed her to sit down on the ground. Josie did so without argument and stared at them wide eyed.

"Say wha?" She asked.

"Well, mom came to us before we left earth and said that she was worried about bringing you along. We'd like to keep you on the ship most of the time but realistically we don't know what's all going to be waiting for us when we get there and we need to be prepared for everything. Including you in danger." Trunks explained. "We don't know how strong or weak you are so we thought we'd teach you some basic self defense to make sure that we don't throw you to the wolves completely unprepared." Goten sat behind Josie and Trunks in front of her.

"First of all, do you know how to use ki at all?" Goten asked, curiously. Josie only shook her head.

"I practiced at home." She admitted embarrassed. "Forever and two days but nothing happened." Trunks explained what it was and how they harnessed it.

"I'm not sure what we'll be able to do with you on that respect seeing as you..." He cleared his throat.

"Don't have any to speak of?" Josie asked with amusement, knowing very well what he was trying to avoid saying. Trunks blushed.

"It's not that you don't have any, we just have a hard time sensing it." He clarified.

"He's right, sometimes I can feel you as clear as day and sense a ki spike in you but then other times..."

"We can't feel you at all." Trunks finished for him with a nod. "So we're going to try to see if we can get any energy emitting from you and maybe at least teach you defensive moves so you can run away. Goten? sunglasses please." Trunks asked, holding out his hand where Trunks placed a dark pair of sunglasses. "..You might want to wear these." Trunks said with a grin as he placed them on Josie's face.

Dinner time came and went as everyone piled into the dinning room to eat. Josie sat on a counter, shoulders slouched, exhausted as she watched the fighters pig out on the meal in front of them with only Bulma and PIccolo standing off to the side watching in wonderment. Bulma slowly came to stand beside Josie.

"How are you feeling?" She asked with amusement, knowing by Josie's body language that she was about to fall over. Josie grunted in reply making Bulma laugh.

"It was fine." She finally said. "We've discovered that I fail at push-ups and I can't stand very much weight - Goten tackled me from behind at one point and I became blue in the face in seconds, these guys weigh so much for being so freaken fit." Josie said with a shake of her head. "I definitely won't be flying anytime soon and oh yeah, a solar flare can hurt me even if I'm wearing sunglasses." Bulma patted Josie's knee supportingly.

"Won't happen in a day." Bulma reminded.

"I hope I can learn something useful in time, is all." Josie said with a shrug, flinching at the pain it caused her.

"You will." Bulma assured. "But meanwhile, I want you to carry this on you at all times." Josie raised an eyebrow at the white capsule case labeled emergencies.

"What is it?" Josie asked, taking it.

"Few things for emergencies, some food, tent, water and supplies, as well as a few knives and weapons." Bulma explained. "This really is just incase of an emergency because if I have my way, you'll be stuck with me at all times and nothing will happen. I just... you're my responsibility, I can't stand the idea of not preparing you for everything, especially your first time out here." Josie nodded understandingly.

"Thank you, Bulma." Josie said putting a hand over hers. "It'll be fine. We'll go, the boys will find out what's causing it and they'll stop it. As you for you and me? we'll meet a cute little Namek and I'll want to bring him home with us and you'll have to pry him out of my hands." Bulma laughed.

"Thanks ladies, back to training!" Goku called for the others as they all made their way out in a rush and left the dining room table with a mountain pile of dishes leaving Josie and Bulma sweat dropping.

...

Back on earth:

Valerie and the other girls had decided to go to a movie right after saying goodbye to their loved ones and watched something cheesy that Bra and Pan had wanted to watch. While going to the restroom in the middle of the movie Valerie had stumbled into a group of girls that were not looking were they were going and immediately they started to be rude to her. Bra was at the food stand as this was happening and raised an eyebrow at the scene, abandoning her food and making her way over there.

What had ensued was chaos of food flying everywhere, girls screaming in anger and pain as a rumble took place in the middle of the cinema. Videl and Pan had come out because of how long it was taking the girls to come back in but as they took in the scene and noticed what was keeping them up, Pan took off and jumped into the fray before Videl could stop her.

Needless to say, the girls were never allowed to step one foot anywhere near that theater ever again. They all went home grumbling about the trouble that they were in and quietly went home.

"I'm going to go wash the soda out of my hair." Videl complained irritably, as she went up the stairs to take a shower. As soon as she was out of earshot the girls shared a look and burst out laughing, high five-ing each other.

"Oh man..." Valerie wiped the tears at the corner of her eyes from laughing so much. She leaned on the couch and painfully grabbed onto her stomach that was still throbbing from a hit she had taken. "That was... so much fun." Pan snickered.

"I didn't know how much fun it would be over here, but I go to admit, that was fun." Pan agreed.

"Stick with me ladies." Bra said with a smirk as she put her hair back into place.

"Yeah, way to start that, Bra." Valerie said with a shake of her head.

"What? you were the one looking like you wanted to beat Goten's ex girlfriend into a pulp." Bra said with a shrug. "And her friends were being rude, I thought I'd help."

"That was uncle Goten's girlfriend, Valese, wasn't it?" Pan asked, laughing anew.

"I didn't notice it was her." Valerie denied with a shrug. "And they were not boyfriend, girlfriend." she argued only a moment later. "They only went on a date... not that I care." The two girls laughed at her again for that.

"You guys suck." Valerie grumbled, sticking out her tongue.

...

That night on the ship Josie realized that the design of the rooms were not the most ideal. The space ship had four rooms and Vegeta had refused from the get go to room with anyone but his wife. She thought it inappropriate to room Josie with either Trunks or Goten, though she knew them best, because they were still all teenagers so she roomed those two boys together. She didn't know how comfortable Gohan would be in a room with her since he still seemed a bit uncomfortable around her and that left Goku and Piccolo. She knew that Goku was likely to keep her up with questions and talk about food all night. So she roomed him with Gohan and put her in a room with Piccolo knowing that with his distrust of her he would more than likely leave her alone and let her sleep if he went to the room at all.

Josie didn't care, the whole trip was weird enough as it was and thought she'd never admit it, she was intimidated by the large green man. She set up her bed as she thought about him likely coming in in a few minutes. It was funny to her that he was her second favorite character in the series and she could barely drag two words out of him - all he ever did was glare at her with distrust. She jumped in bed when her door started to open and pretended to be asleep with her back to the room.

"Wow... you are terrible at faking sleep." Trunks called with a grin as he and Goten entered the room.

"What's wrong, Josie?" Goten sing songed. "Afraid of Piccolo?" Josie glared at the window she was facing and abruptly got up and threw a pillow at Goten who easily caught it and grinned.

"He's over seven feet tall, jerks." She said in annoyance. "Large and green, can regenerate any body part, has pointy teeth and, oh yeah, his power is equivalent of a SUPER SAIYAN!" She shouted as she waved her arms wildly about. "WHAT KIND OF STUPID GIRL WOULD I BE IF I WASN'T!" Goten and Trunks blinked at her outburst.

"...That's a pretty good point." Trunks finally admitted, chuckling. "He is kind of a tall guy, isn't he?"

"Guess I never really paid attention to it since we've grown up around him." Goten said with a light shrug.

"Trust me a guy of that size is not as easy for me to shrug off. People in my world are rarely anywhere near the neighborhood of that tall." She exhaled. "And on top of all that, he hates me." Goten sat across from her shaking his head with a smile.

"He doesn't hate you." He attempted to reassure.

"Oh he hates me." Josie insisted.

"He just doesn't understand you." Trunks corrected patiently. "You're confusing to him and let's not even get started on your origins... Piccolo is already a suspicious being by nature and well... you're definitely not easy to understand." Trunks smiled.

"Just funny to me that my second favorite character hates my guts." Josie laughed. "...Not that my favorite character really likes me all that much either." She added in hindsight.

"Who, my father?" Trunks asked, leaning against the bed post of Piccolo's bed receiving a nod from Josie.

"I thought you weren't comfortable telling us your favorite characters." Goten reminded, with some amusement. Josie shrugged.

"You'll find out sooner or later, right?" She asked rhetorically as she made herself comfortable on her bed, sitting above the covers.

"Who's after Piccolo?" Trunks asked with some interest, crossing his arms. That made her hesitate. "Come-on, you've told us this much." Trunks encouraged noticing her hesitation.

"..You sure?" She questioned, unsure.

The two boys nodded, leaning in. "...You two remember the Trunks from the other timeline?" Trunks groaned and leaned back, already disgusted with the half answer.

"Future Trunks? really?" He asked with disbelief. Josie sheepishly shrugged. "What is it with everyone and that guy?" Trunks asked, annoyed. Since he was little he heard about this mysterious teenager that his family had met while he was a baby and he remembered his mother constantly saying what a good and sweet boy he was, and all it ever did was irritate the heck out of him to feel compared to a person who to him, didn't exist.

"He's cool." Josie said simply, unsure of how to explain it. "He's... mysterious, shy, sweet, kind, decent and he's gone through a hell of a lot and he's.. pretty good looking." She admitted with a rueful grin. Goten scratched his cheek with confusion.

"...Doesn't he look just like Trunks here?" He asked.

"He has a tan!" She argued. "And his hair is...longer." She added weakly, smiling when she couldn't think of much more to add. "There's just something about him." She summarized, indicating that she didn't know what else she could tell them to make them understand.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed." Trunks left a bit angry leaving Josie pouting.

"I offended him, didn't I?" She asked with a sigh. Goten smiled, nodding.

"A little." He laughed.

The two exited the room shortly after, Goten going to sleep knowing that his father and Vegeta were likely to be riding him and Trunks tomorrow to get them 'in shape'. Josie went barefoot to the cockpit, having showered shortly before the boys had shown up to her room, feeling a lot better than she had earlier that day. She stayed in the middle of the room and smiled at the view of the galaxy before her, familiarizing herself with the butterflies that took over her stomach whenever she came upon the overwhelming view.

The machines hummed silently but the room remained for the most part dark except for a light or two that would occasionally flash on the console. She left and went through the kitchen, thankful that Bulma had gotten out the robots to help them with the piles of dishes. She went past it to the stair case that led to the bottom level where all the action usually was. The infirmary was dark and the Gravity Room gave no indication that anyone was inside, her curiosity raised as she wondered where Piccolo was, not having to wonder much longer when she found him meditating in the Large and currently empty training Room. Josie studied him for a moment, wondering if he was already asleep - if _this_ was how he slept.

"...Do you sleep?" She wondered out loud after a few minutes of silence. She received no reply for the next minute or so and was about to turn and leave when she finally heard his raspy reply.

"Shouldn't you know the answer to that already." He stated more than asked with some badly hidden annoyance. She bit her bottom lip hesitantly before stepping forward, her hands unconsciously fidgeting.

"I actually don't know." She admitted. "Your world has three suns so that makes me think that you don't but.. it seems hard to believe any race could survive off of water alone, with no rest."

"Your envied knowledge seems to be lacking then, doesn't it?" He asked, still keeping his eyes closed not appearing at all interested in the conversation they were having.

"Oh come-on." She finally snapped, with some bite. "Don't tell me you're angry because I know things about you? It's not my fault that where I'm from you're on TV."

"It isn't your obligation to watch it." He retorted without missing a beat, his eyes finally opening to narrow at her form.

"No.." She admitted with a minor shrug. "But.. at least I cheered for you guys." she defended weakly with a smile.

...

Two days later they were getting closer to landing on Namek. Josie had adjusted to space life and stayed out of the way of the boys while they trained, during the afternoons they would have lunch and would take the time after that to train her with some defensive attacks incase of emergencies as well as trying to help her harness any of the ki inside of her with little progress. Today Josie had spent the majority of her day inside of her room; she had established that Piccolo either did not sleep, only used meditation as sleep or was simply could not stand her and decided to bunk on a couch somewhere on the ship because he had not once stepped foot in her room.

She left most of her luggage on his bed and used her bed to sleep and meditate when the boys were busy. The men gave her a particularly hard time about her lack of food intake so she choose to stay in these last two mornings and attempt to feel out out her inner strength inside. She had told Trunks and Goten the truth when she had admitted to attempting some of these things in her world but it seemed so fruitless there. She tried hard to channel any inner power and make it visible the way she'd seen Gohan teach Videl but only got frustrated after a few minutes of no light emanating from her hands.

"UGH!" She growled in annoyance and sloppily got off the bed, almost tangling her legs as she stormed out of her room mumbling about 'this being crap' going down the hallway, slowing down when she saw Bulma looking possibly more annoyed than she was.

"Bulma?" She asked, confused. Bulma stopped her stride and waited for the younger girl to catch up before starting to lead her down to the lower deck where Josie immediately noticed all the men were in the open training area.

"...Did they-?"

"Oh you better believe it." Bulma nodded angrily, tool box in hand as she marched herself to the Gravity Room ranting about how she slaved for these ungrateful men who always broke everything. How she was only here to fix crap and put food in there - Josie cringed at the language Bulma was using and had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing, surprised to hear her speak that way. The others smartly stayed away but Josie followed her into the actual domed Gravity Chamber studying the inside, knowing she'd never get to be in here while it was in use. Josie immediately saw the flashing orange lights on the main console and Bulma immediately kneeled on the ground and took off a panel to expose very intricate wiring.

"What did they-... never mind." Josie shook her head as she circled the main console and saw the damage that must have been what caused the short circuit. She kneeled on the ground and took off the exposed panels, peaking inside, seeing much of what Bulma was seeing on the opposite side of her. Bulma caught side of Josie through the other side and Josie smiled.

"I wanna help." Josie offered sincerely, receiving a surprised look from Bulma who gave her a genuine smile finally and nodded.

...

"Think she'll make us lunch tonight even though we broke the gravity room?" Goten asked, leaning over towards his older brother who was doing a kata on his own. Gohan glanced over in the direction of the Gravity Room where he heard another thump and a curse followed by Josie's laughter.

"...I wouldn't count on it." Gohan finally said. "So you two have fun with it." He said, patting the shoulder of each teen as their mouths dropped open in shock.

"Wha-"

"Why!" Goten argued.

"Piccolo doesn't eat really, you can't trust Dad to make a meal and not mess it up, Vegeta would NEVER cook us dinner and well... I'm older, by default that only leaves you two." Gohan said with a grin.

"I'm older than you, Goten, not it!" Trunks quickly said, jogging over to his father leaving Goten gaping at him.

...

"I think... we're done here." Bulma said slowly as she wiped the sweat from her brow, studying her handy work with a critical eye. "All that's let is to close this all up. Josie, hand me that screw driver, will you?" Josie handed it to her.

"Be careful, you don't want to end up in my world alone." Josie joked as she held a flash light in place for Bulma to see what she was doing better better. At that comment Bulma took her attention away from the task she was performing and looked at Josie curiously.

"Is.. this how you came here?"

"More or less." Josie said with a shrug, vaguely recalling the noises and lights of that day. Her school, the fight, her embarrassing come-backs, the fear of the trouble they would be in and walking home where she showed Valerie her invention.

"I hope I didn't bring on any bad memories." Bulma apologized. Josie shook her head and assured her that she wasn't and the two quietly went back to work; Josie handing Bulma one more wire before going back to her section of wires.

"You said red wire to the silver thing, right?" Josie asked arranging some wires carefully in an attempt to maneuver what she needed to place. "Alright. I think that's it... you know if something goes wrong with this Bulma, I'm totally blaming you for it." Bulma laughed.

"That's fine." Bulma assured, crouching beside Josie's knees and taking a look at the younger girls handy work. "Look." She signaled inside the panel. "These you put perfectly but you need to put the cross yellow through that hole before connecting it to to the main power source - there, that's perfect, you got it kiddo."

"Sweet." Josie smiled as she pulled herself out of there and dusted herself lightly, talking happily with Bulma as they closed it all up to keep the wires covered.

"Thank you for your help sweetheart. I'm really glad you came." Bulma said sincerely as Josie picked up the bag of tools to put them away for Bulma. She grinned at the comment and nodded.

"For sure." She assured. "You should go relax and read a book in a nice bath." Josie suggested as they made their way out of the room. She immediately saw Bulma's eyes light up at that idea. "You deserve it, Bulma, take the afternoon." Bulma grinned at her gave her a fierce hug.

"I think I'll do that, Sweetie." She said. "I'll see you later." Josie nodded and watched her go up the stairs happily humming.

"I thought she'd come out of there fuming." Trunks finally said, approaching with the others when he felt his mom was a reasonable distance away.

"Yeah, no kidding. Thank you, Josie. I'm already glad that we brought you." Gohan said with a smile, putting a cautious hand on Josie's shoulder. Josie noticed his hesitation and chuckled making brief conversation before going upstairs. She slowed down as she entered the kitchen and saw Goten trying to shut off the smoking stove. She quickened her step to him and turned it off quickly in one swift motion, waving her hands in front of her to ward off the smoke in her face.

"Josie." His face had never looked so relieved to see her.

"What are you trying to make!" She coughed, wide eyed.

"..Rice." He answered, embarrassed. She shook her head and grabbed a cloth to take off the pot of boiling mush that was on the stove removing it from the fire in one quick movement.

"Who's bright idea was to have YOU cook dinner tonight?" Josie asked, finally turning fully to Goten now that the disaster was averted.

"Gohan and Trunks." He accused with annoyance as he sat down on a chair, already overwhelmed. "Josie, can you just cook dinner tonight?" Goten asked with a tinge of a whine to his voice. Josie laughed and shook her head.

"You're funny, half breed." She stated, grinning. "But now that I know YOU'RE cooking. I'm going to go ahead and make my own really quick so as to avoid stomach pain later."

"Aw, come-on, Josie.." He complained, standing back up.

"..." She raised an eyebrow at his terrible impression of a pout but thought of Valerie and sighed. "Fine! but you owe me Son, and you're making it, I'm just making sure you don't burn anything." She rolled her eyes as Goten grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up, signaling that he understood all the rules.

Josie had given up on that idea after Goten had charred two steaks and dissolved some broccoli in boiling water. She ended up setting up most of it and made him just serve a lot of fruit for dinner and she set on a few steaks. She quietly watched the Z fighters all chatter as they ate at the large dining table, talking excitedly about their landing on the planet the following day.

"Hopefully we'll get to look around a little more than last time we were here, dad!" Gohan commented with a smile.

"When was that again?" Goku asked, scratching his head in an attempt to remember that far back.

"Cooler." Josie answered from the counter that she was sitting on, having gotten into the habit of eating off to the side with Bulma so as to avoid the chaos of hands and bad table manners from the boys. "When you fought him on New Namek." She finished quietly before going back to her bowl of grapes. She noticed the quieted conversation and rolled her eyes, reminding herself that she needed to not shout out every answer that came to her mind. It was just so unusual that she have most of the answers to the questions that anyone asked, she knew that never was the case in school. She shook her head, smirking at the thought.

"Something else to share with the class there, creepy?" Trunks asked from the table, noticing her funny expression. She placed her left hand in an open b-hand shape and flipped it out from under her chin making Trunks arch a brow at the bad word she'd just signed.

"Where did you learn how to say that?" He asked with a grin receiving nothing but a shrug as she attempted to pop a grape into her mouth only to have it bounce on her chin and fall back into her plate making her frown down at it.

"Thanks for helping Goten make dinner, Josie." Gohan said appreciatively.

"Yeah!" Goku said enthusiastically. "It was great." Josie looked up at them, surprised.

"I...uh.." She blushed, unused to the compliments. She cleared her throat and frowned, embarrassed. "It's no problem." She mumbled. "How did you like it Vegeta?" Josie asked, slightly teasing, as he started to stand up to leave. He stopped and turned around with a snarl making her bite her lower lip in an attempt to not let her laughter bubble out at his immediate annoyance.

"Don't ask foolish questions." He bit out.

"Worth a shot." She mumbled unable to stop herself from smiling.

"Trunks and Goten." Vegeta called, ignoring her comment. The two immediately sat at attention, looking at Vegeta attentively.

"You'll train with me and Kakarot after you're done with the weakling." Josie's rolled her eyes and fought back the urge to flip him off too, instead forcing a clearly fake smile.

"Nothing else to say, brat?" Vegeta asked, smirking at the fact that he had rendered her speechless. It was rare the annoying young girl had no retort or something to say about **everything** under the sun.

"I love you." She pointed her index fingers forward, side by side and circled a heart shape with a sly smile towards him, grinning as he began to flush, his eyes widening and his lip curling up in disgust.

"Gah!" He growled, throwing a very weak blast in her direction to show her how little he appreciated comments like that. Her eyes widened and she yelped but ducked in time and the boys at the table howled in laughter knowing that the blast would have done no more than singe her hair, if that. "Watch your tongue, girl." He warned, clearly grossed out as he made his way out of the room with Goku studying the cabinet behind Josie that Vegeta had hit. It wasn't damaged just blackened.

"Bulma's not going to be very happy about that." He commented to Vegeta as he followed after him.

"UGH!" Josie growled, feeling her own neck, shoulders and face to make sure everything was still in tact.

"Are you okay, Josie?" Gohan asked, shaking his head with a smile.

"I'm fine." She snapped. He nodded, chuckling as he made his way out of the room with Piccolo with him.

"Real smart move there, Josie" Trunks continued to laugh. Her glare immediately came upon him and she just flipped him off with her middle finger this time.

"I think you're improving - you managed to duck." Goten complimented, grinning from ear to ear.

"Fantastic." Josie muttered sarcastically as she turned towards the burn cabinets and gingerly wiped it with her index finger, seeing how quickly it came off. "I managed to duck a blast that was coming at me super slow and the highest amount of damage it could have done was darken my complexion... and possibly singe my eyebrows off."

"I'll tell you what it did do." Trunks continued as he started to go towards the door to A) Prepare the Training Room for their session with Josie today and B) Run from the inevitable dish she was likely to throw at him for what he was about to say next. "It did nothing for your hair." He said with a grin. "You've got a hell of afro going on there, Josie. I just... don't know if you can quite pull it off." He saw Josie's left eye twitch and he got out of there in time as the cup shattered on the wall he had been in front of moments ago.

Goten looked over at Josie who was breathing erratically, eyes still narrowed at where Trunks had just been. Goten touched his index finger briefly to the tip of tongue and pressed a few strands of Josie's electrocuted hair between his thumb and forefinger hearing it sizzle as a tiny bit of smoke floated upward. He immediately let go when he noticed the expression on her face.

"Uh oh..." He gulped as she started to convulse in indignation and fury. "Umm well seems like you're ready to start your training a little early today so I-i'll just make sure Trunks has everything set up and we can use that inner anger to - WHAT WAS THAT TRUNKS? YEAH I'LL BE RIGHT THERE.'' He laughed nervously rubbing the back of his head as he edged closer to the door. "Sounds like he needs me. You just keep controlling that anger- which you're doing a great job at that by the way-" He yelped as he stumbled on a chair behind him. He cleared his throat and continued to back away slowly. "And I-I'll uh see you in a-BYE!" Dropping all pretenses, Goten ran as soon as he was a few feet from the door leaving a cursing and yelling Josie.

...

**Note: **Guys I'm truly blown away. Thank you VERY much for the reviews. I know it's hard to review every chapter so I thank you for at least reviewing the last chapter you read. It means so much and I received more than I expected. Thank you so much, all you, thank you!

I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a bit slower but we'll be on New Namek soon! Ja ne!


	20. Chapter 20: Whistle while you Work

**Disclaimer: **Look at the next chapter for disclaimer!

**Dude Where's My World:**

**Revised**

**Chapter 20: Whistle While you Work**

"UGH! COME-ON THIS IS RIDICULOUS - LET ME GO, DAMN IT GOTEN!" Josie thrashed wildly in Goten's arms as he had, somehow, wrangled her into a full nelson while standing upright. He grinned from behind her over at Trunks who shook his head with laughter, face in his palms. "THIS IS SUCH A CROCK OF S-!"

"Hey, hey - language, young lady." Goten admonished, unable to stop himself from laughing as a flurry of more curse words erupted out of her mouth, a vein throbbing in her forehead, face flushed with embarrassment. "It may not seem like it but we're helping you." Goten assured, laughing.

"THAT'S IT!" Josie growled, furiously.

Goten suddenly tensed only moments later when he felt a strong gust of wind start to push him back from Josie. He held on all the tighter and cringed, confused as to what the hell was going on. Trunks gasped a few feet in front of them, his eyes widening when he saw Josie's hair start to whip in all directions the way theirs did when they... when.. He gulped. Josie's face contorted into an almost painful expression of focus as her body physically tensed, the vein in her forehead becoming more prominent as she tightly clenched her fists clenched, gritting her teeth.

"..J-Josie?" Trunks asked fearfully, body quivering, sweat dropping on the side of his face as a scream started to erupt out of her. Goten flew back from her, stunned as he landed a few feet away, arms up in defense.

"aaaAAAHHHHHH!-" Josie's face turned bright red as she coughed violently, smacking at her own chest to clear up the saliva she'd just choked on.

One look at Trunks stupefied expression and she couldn't hold back anymore. She let her upper body drop forward and put her hands on her knees to rest her weight laughing uncontrollably for minutes without a noise from the other two dumbfounded half saiyans who continued to stare as her hair and clothes continued to angrily flap from power..?

"Sorry about the AC, kids." Bulma apologized as she appeared at the top of the stairs, sheepishly. "I was messing with some of the controls since you guys constantly have this place steaming warm from working out and I set it too high and it produced high winds through the vents." She explained, pointing at the only one she could see from where she was standing, the one right above Josie. Trunks confused expression turned to one of understanding and immediately after, annoyance, as he turned to face Josie who only laughed louder. Unable to keep herself upright anymore after Bulma finally explained what happened, Josie dropped to the floor as she held her sides in an attempt to control the raging fits of laughter. Goten groaned and face palmed himself as Bulma stared at the trio and tilted her head.

"Teenagers." Bulma said on an exhale, shaking her head as she made her way back up the few steps she had descended and left.

"..B-But you said 'that's it'..." Goten attempted to make sense of how the HELL she had timed it so perfectly so that it looked like she was powering up.

"Let it go, Goten." Trunks snapped, embarrassed at being made to look like a fool.

"I j-just..." Josie groaned as she tried to sit up, snickering as she saw Goten, wiping the tears at the corners of her eyes. "Oh man." She took a deep breath. "All I was gonna do was reach back and kick you in the frijoles" His eyes widened and he cupped himself, not needing to speak spanish to understand what she was saying. Her snickers turned into laughter again as she let her upper body fall back onto the floor and rested her arm over her eyes as her body convulsed.

"That's enough, Josie." Trunks said angrily, arms crossed.

"You should have seen the look on your faces.." She insisted.

"Drop it." Trunks warned.

"My cheeks hurt so much." She whined, groaning as she rolled onto her stomach.

...

On earth:

Videl had gone shopping for that day's dinner while the girls stayed home.

"Hey Pan?" Bra entered the living room where Pan and Valerie were watching a movie.

"Yeah?" Bra asked, sitting up.

"I wanted to talk to you about something in private, can you come up to my room?" Bra asked, smiling. Valerie glanced over at her, knowing Josie's expressions of trickery well enough to recognize the devious look on Bra's face at the moment.

"Sure." Pan agreed, sensing something was up too but not saying anything as she followed the slightly older girl up the stairs. Valerie got up and turned off the television, tilting her head in the direction that the girls had gone in. She shrugged a moment later and decided that she'd explore Capsule Corporation while they did whatever they were doing. She passed down the hallway of the first floor, passing by the small medical room that she remembered seeing the first day that they had landed on the planet.

She continued to go further down the hallway than she had before. "It's weird that we've been here for well over a month and a half and I still have yet to see this whole house - hey look, they've got a basement." Valerie blinked, surprised as she noticed a flight of stairs going downward. She immediately started jogging down and noticed another hallway with various different rooms. The biggest one she found had all black screens as surrounding walls.

"Well.. that's curious." She mumbled out loud, confused. She turned on the light to the room and all the walls light up, making her eyes widen. This must have been Trunks' as a kid. "No wonder he never trained.." Her mouth dropped open as a the kid wonderland bloomed before her eyes. The walls were not walls at all but television screens designed for gaming. The only wall she had just noticed in the room that was an actual wall was grey in color and had toys up to the wall with a pop corn machine and gadgets.

"Ooh luckiest kids ever." She groaned happily as she set up the video games on the large screens, dancing happily throughout the room.

Hours had passed and Valerie had not left the room, completely forgetting about Pan and Bra's odd behavior earlier. When her stomach's growling started to become too much and popcorn stopped being sufficient she decided to get herself up and head up the stairs to get a snack. She stopped short of the living room, mouth agape at the neon lights and blasting music throughout the room. It was filled to the brim with people, more specifically teenagers, partying teenagers.

"Oh...son of a bitch." She mumbled wide eyed, as she attempted to make her way through the throngs of the wildly dancing teens. "BRA!... PAN!"

"Woo!" Pan danced near Valerie with a boy of her same age, happily. "Valerie!" She shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Hey! are you having a good time? we were worried about you!"

"What the hell is going on?" Valerie demanded.

"Bra's idea!" Pan defended, grinning at the older teenager. Valerie groaned, shaking her head with her eyes cupped in her hand.

"Your mother's going to kill me..GET DOWN FROM THERE!" Valerie shouted at the boy who had somehow gotten on the candle chandelier and was dangling precariously from it. She attempted to jump for him but didn't get up more than a foot; growling in irritation she glared murderously at Pan who rolled her eyes and pointed her open palm at the boy above them and fired a tiny blast forcing him down with a yelp. "Help me set this place back to normal!" Valerie ordered, pushing past the crowd, taking a picture from someone's hands and putting it back, ducking under another arm and stopping in front of the coffee table.

"Did nobody teach you manners, what's wrong with you!" Valerie asked rhetorically, pushing teenagers off the coffee table and grabbing someone else's drink, throwing it at the two others that were making out on a couch. She stopped when she caught a whiff of the drink and raised it up to her face to smell it, seconds later her eyes widened and she threw the cup carelessly to the side thunking somebody on the head with it.

"Hey you." A voice called her. She turned to see a drunken guy smile at her. "You look like a buzz kill - so you must live here. The phone just rang, I think it was an old lady asking for you - she sounded pretty mad man." He warned, handing her the cordless phone. Valerie immediately took it and pressed a finger to one ear and the phone to the other.

"HELLO?" She shouted. Receiving nothing but a dial tone, she glared at the boy and started to turn away.

"Wait up." He asked, taking her arm gently. "You're not so bad looking, do you want to go somewhere dark?" He offered, smiling. She smiled back and signaled him to get closer, he leaned down a little and she got near his ear.

"...That is quite possibly the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. I think I'd have to scour the edges of the universe and I would still be hard pressed to find someone with your poetic charisma with words." He reeled back, lip raised in a snarl at her obvious sarcasm.

"FINE. I Get it." He dismissed her and started to leave. It was now her who held his arm and attempted to keep him there.

"No, please, don't go yet. I know I'm only sixteen... but think I want to have your babies, bro!" She said desperately, eyes wide in panic at the thought of him leaving. He turned to her horrified.

"You have issues, dude!" He pulled his arm away, freaked out and ran out of there leaving her snickering.

"...What was that all about?" Bra asked, coming up beside the laughing Valerie with her arms crossed, curious.

"Nothing." Valerie grinned, watching where the guy had disappeared. "I guess I just picked up some things from Josie along the way." She said, turning to Bra. Once their eyes connected, Valerie's expression turned serious once more. "Why the hell are you having a party!" She demanded. All humor forgotten.

"Oh come on Val, loosen up!" Bra requested, grinning as she shook Valerie's limbs loose. "Tell me this party isn't...uh oh."

"Uh oh?" Valerie questioned, confused. "I don't think I've ever heard someone use that to describe a..." Valerie's eyes widened as she turned around and saw what Bra did. Videl was home. "Uh..oh."

...

"Oh come-on, how many times do I have to tell you I'm sorry." Josie asked, smiling as Trunks held her still with her back to his chest. Her arms backward pulled away from herself back past his own body. "You're not actually going to hit me... are you?" Josie asked Goten, head tilted as she eyed the nervous half Saiyan in front of her.

"Am I?" Goten brought his eyes to Trunks, hesitantly.

"Yes." Trunks said simply. "This has nothing to do with your tasteless joke earlier, Josie." Trunks added. "Dad brought up a good point earlier to me and Goten. What if someone hit you? Amongst everything else that we've-"

"Failed-" She interrupted.

"Taught you," He said strongly, with a glare. She only smiled in response. "We want to make sure you know how to take a hit." He finished. She sighed and eyed him over her shoulder warily.

"Fine but give me a second to fix my pony tail." Trunks rolled his eyes and let go completely so she could rearrange her disarrayed hair. She cracked her neck, relaxing and ran her fingers over the whistle Bulma had insisted she start getting use to wearing.

"Don't even think about it." Trunks warned, noticing what she was playing with. He grabbed her arms and made her face Goten again.

"Oh you need to loosen up." She criticized, smiling as she was rough handled. She knew that she and the men of that ship hated her whistle with a passion. Bulma had only given it to her a day ago telling her she was too wear it at all times while they were on New Namek incase she got in any danger. Josie really failed to see how a whistle would help but she did it to keep Bulma happy and had also made that little sucker her best friend, jokingly dubbing it the rape whistle.

"And while you're at it, loosen up your hold."She demanded. "There's no need to hold on that tight, I'm not going anywhere." He rolled his eyes and did as requested, nodding to Goten to go ahead. Goten took a step forward and stopped. Josie could see the beads of sweat forming on his face and she gave him the first genuine smile she'd given him all day. "Go for it, Goten. I won't get mad." She attempted to assure. "This is important." She agreed. He swallowed with some difficulty.

"I'm not even tell you to put half your strength into it, Goten. Just tiny fragments." Trunks encouraged.

"Come-on.." Josie pressed on. "I'm loosing my nerve here." His fist shook a little with nerves and Josie shook her head. "For the love of John Travolta.." She muttered, pulling completely away from Trunks and turning to face him instead. "He can't do it. You do it, Trunks." Trunks stuttered a cough, startled to have the demand placed on him now.

"Uh... sure." He said nervously, clearing his throat as he raised up his hand in front of him in a stance.

"Alrighty, right here." Josie encouraged, tapping her mid section twice, frowning in an attempt to prepare herself. "Do it." Nodding after a deep breath. A heavy silence filled the room as Josie waited for the hit. She opened an eye, not having realized she closed them in the first place, and took a peek at him wondering what the hold up was.

"Trunks..?" She asked, confused. His brows were furrowed and sweat dripped down the side of his face.

"..." His body became lax abruptly and he straightening, shaking his head. "I can't, Josie." He said simply. Josie gaped at him, dumbstruck.

"..W-what?" She asked, meekly.

"I'm not going to hit you." He said giving a light hearted shrug. "Sorry." He added, smiling softly. "We're just... going to have to make sure no one has the opportunity to get close enough to hit you," He put his hand on her shoulder. "Which, I'm totally game for as plan A anyway. How about you, Goten?" Trunks asked, leaning to the side a bit and looking past Josie. Goten nodded, smiling confidently.

"Count me in." Josie chuckled at the obvious testosterone rise in the last few minutes in the room and shook her head, punching Trunks arm lightly.

"Jerks." She mumbled. "I honestly have no idea whether to be more offended at how weak you think I am or flattered by how disgustingly sweet you two are." Josie said, biting her lower lip, embarrassed.

"Offended." Vegeta offered, arms crossed as he passed through on his way to the bathroom.

"No one asked you, Veggie!" Josie shouted back without missing a beat.

"Focus." Trunks scolded with a grin. "If we can't hit you, let's work on long distance defense."

"Ki blasts?" Josie asked with a groan. "Dude! we've already established I don't have enough ki to do something like this and I'm tired of sounding like an idiot while I try."

"She's right." Vegeta commented as he started to pass once more. "On both aspects." He made sure to add.

"MASENKO-HA!" Josie suddenly shouted with her arms above her head intent on hitting Vegeta with it.

Nothing happened. Not a spark or a flicker, nor a tiny puff of smoke. Nothing. She sighed angrily as Vegeta began to bark with laughter. She extended her left arm out, palm open with her face bright pink.

"Destructo Disk!" Nothing. "Son of a bit-CRUSHER BALL!" Her face turned beet red as she witnessed her favorite character laughing so hard at her that tears were beginning to pour down his face as he leaned on a wall for support. "Racoome Boom..?" He only laughed harder at that and she threw her arms up in exasperation and sat down roughly on the ground, legs and arms crossed, indian style. "This must be what pure undiluted hatred feels like..." Josie commented to herself as her body twitched from anger and she forced her eyes close, frown set as she attempted to relax and meditate while her face and ears continued to burn from embarrassment.

...

"I have never seen people run so quickly in fear before." Valerie said surprised as she stood in the torn up living room of Capsule Corporation with Pan twiddling her thumbs beside her and Bra scratched the top of her head.

"Well, my mom can be a scary lady when she wants to be.." Pan explained, carefully studying her mother's body language; making sure to keep her head bowed to look as sorry and pathetic as she could muster.

"Imagine my surprise." Videl started as she slammed the doors closed after the last of the kids had escaped. "When Chichi calls me, screaming her ear off that our girls were throwing a party with drugs and alcohol."

"Mama, there were no drugs I promise!" Pan shouted passionately, arms up. Videl's eyes narrowed and her body shook with righteous indignation.

"BUT THERE WAS ALCOHOL?" She demanded. Videl's cell phone rang making the girls breathe a sigh of relief as Videl momentarily stopped her tirade to pick up the call.

"Moshi-Moshi." She greeted. She listened for a few minutes and they noticed her shoulders tense.

"Uh oh." Bra mumbled again.

"Stop saying uh oh - your uh oh's are terrible signs." Valerie scolded. "Wait, can you hear them?"

"You don't really have to- uh huh. Of course." Valerie could see Videl sweat drop and nod, frowning. "Right. We'd be more than glad to have you. Great. See you soon." Videl hung up the phone and took her sweat time putting it back in her bag.

"That... was Chichi." She started calmly. "She just called to follow up and make sure that Bulma's house is still in one piece."

"It really is." Bra offered enthusiastically. "It's been worse before-"

"She's on her way here now." Videl interrupted. The girls stayed motionless for a minute as they digested the news. With a desperate cry of panic Pan quickly flew up and took off for the kitchen appearing a few seconds later wearing an apron with latex gloves on holding garbage bags clutched in one hand and a scrubber in her other.

"LET'S GET CLEANING" Pan shouted desperately. That began a flurry of frenzied action from all the girls. Bra ran into the kitchen and and removed the towels off the fridge and groaned when she saw the piles of dishes all throughout the room. Videl disappeared into the dinning room and just a few short seconds later Pan and Valerie froze when they heard an angry cry.

"THEY TURNED THE DINNING ROOM TABLE INTO A SLIP N' SLIDE?" Videl shouted. Valerie turned to Pan giving her an 'Are you kidding me?' look, Pan only shrugged nervously turning back to wiping beer off the walls with a wet rag.

"Grandma's coming... Grandma's coming.." Pan said under her breath, panicked. Valerie shook her head and blindly started grabbing at cans and spilled food off the couches and coffee table stuffing as much as she could into her hands and frantically threw everything she had in the nearest garbage bin. She paused with foresight and grabbed the bin entirely and began scooping everything in it.

"Val!" Pan scolded immediately having noticed she had thrown the remote control into the bin as well along with the garbage. Valerie blinked, startled, she looked down and realized her mistake; reaching in to yank it out in one swift motion and without another word she went back to the frenzied cleaning.

"Do you think she'll yell at us?" Valerie asked nervously, almost failing to catch a broom Pan threw at her.

"I don't know!" Pan waved her arms, panicked.

I'm Bra Briefs!" An indignant Bra stormed back into the living room a few seconds later wearing a sudsy covered green apron and soaking yellow rubber gloves. She glared at the two girls who both wore aggravated looks at her comment.

"Bra," Valerie started, taking a step towards her with her arms open. "This is no time for a rich girl fit - we're running out of time!" Bra shook her head furiously.

"No, Val!" She insisted. "I'm a Briefs - as in, Capsule Corporation Briefs - the world's largest manufacturer of capsules, Robots and other technology!" She shouted excitedly. "Can you find the key word there, girls?" Bra asked, mockingly. Pan scratched her head and looked at Valerie questioningly.

"ROBOTS, You dopes!" Bra shouted. Valerie's eyes widened as she realized what she was getting at.

"You're a genius, Bra!" Valerie exclaimed, grinning at the young girl who smirked, putting a gloved fist on her hip.

"I am my mothers daughter, after all." She reminded without a single shred of humility.

"Well get on it, kiddo." Videl encouraged with a frustrated sigh, having heard the conversation from the other room and followed her in shortly after. "We'll need there help. Let's these robots to clean this place up and I want all of you to get upstairs, shower and get ready for Chichi's arrival. We'll work on your punishments later." The other girls nodded and abandoned their tasks without another thought, starting to quickly pile up the stairs. "Girls." Videl called. They all froze, Pan bumping into Bra's back. "I mean what I say. The only reason you're not all cleaning right now is because hearing Chichi's lecture is not worth making you guys squirm, but there will be a punishment later, got it?" The girls nodded, wide eyed and gulping. "Good. Now get going!" She shooed them.

...

"I get it." Josie said calmly from the extension on the main console of the cockpit where she sat with crossed legs and arms, staring out into the endless dark sky. Trunks stopped at the entrance, surprised that she had known he was there. She looked over her shoulder at him, smiling.

"Don't look so impressed. I have good hearing." She said dryly. He grinned and approached to look out as well.

"You really like it out here, don't you?" He asked. She nodded and went back to looking outside, resting her arms around her knees now, comfortably.

"I love it." She smiled quietly. "I've never felt so relaxed in my life. I think it must be the calm before the storm." She laughed lightly. "It's time to practice again?" She asked, turning fully around to face him. He sat down on the pilot's chair and crossed one leg.

"It is, but don't worry, you can relax a few minutes." He assured, smiling. "I really don't want you associating my face with pain and misery, Josie." He worried, laughing.

"Nah." Josie grinned. "I associate it with embarrassment and humiliation now." Trunks rolled his eyes with good humor, smiling.

"Fine. Let's get to it then! We only have a few more hours before we touch down on New Namek." Josie felt that all too feeling of her stomach dropping again and her grin grew in excitement at his words. She jumped off the desk enthusiastically and lead him out of there.

"You may not see it, Josie, but you improve every time we train."

"Ah ah." Josie warned with a finger, walking backwards as she glared at him. "What did we say about what we are calling this?"

"Practice." He mumbled, shaking his head. "Why can't we call it training?"

"Because." She said shortly as she turned back forward and kept walking, her arms crossed. "Training is what YOU guys do. Me trying to do more than two push-ups does not count as anywhere near what you guys do."

"You've got that right, brat." Vegeta said with a scoff as he exited this bed chambers a few feet ahead of her and started to head, inadvertently, in the same direction they were going. "I never thought I'd see the day when the human race was no longer the weakest life form in existence but you... whatever you are, somehow," He shook his head. "Is even more pathetic." Josie quietly tip toed a few feet forward and jumped on his back on an impulse to get back at him for his words. It took no more than a second for Vegeta to remove 'the pest' with one finger in irritation, quickening his steps out of there before he got himself in trouble. She was caught before she hit the ground by Trunks who shook his head.

"Why?" Trunks asked her. She smiled knowing he was likely asking her why she felt the need to irritate his father... or maybe he was asking why if there was a specific reason she had jumped on his back.

"Well... We're going to the same place, I was hoping he wouldn't mind my hitching a ride seeing as I'm gonna **TRAIN **in a few minutes, I need to save my energy." Trunks laughed as quietly as possible when he heard his father growl a few steps ahead and he threw her around his own back so that she could hitch a ride from him instead and put some distance between the two. She hooted and hollered happily with a fist in the air.

"Now this is what a cool Saiyan does!" She shouted, wanting to make sure that Vegeta heard. "Let's hurry Trunks, I'm due for a butt whoopin'!"

They headed down to the training room where most of the Z fighters were out in the large Training area having a free for all sparring session.

"Whoa." Josie's eyes widened when she caught sight of them. Trunks let her down quietly and led her away from them.

"But... where are we..?" She attempted to ask, confused as he led her towards the gravity room. Her eyes widened as soon as she realized where he was pushing her towards. "Nope!" She shouted, attempting to put her feet in reverse and unable too from his steady pressure to continue forward. "Come-on! didn't you JUST hear Vegeta! I think we've determined without a shadow of a doubt-" She grunted as she attempted to turn her body around and just ended up with her face in his chest, her words now muffled. Trunks pushed her shoulders back a little, smiling down at her.

"What?"

"I said! we already established my type of human is weaker than your type of human. We can't handle gravity the way yours potentially could!" She argued. He merely raised a brow, looking very uninterested in her argument. She growled in frustration. "Goten will not agree to this idea." She argued with a different approach. The door to the room opened to reveal a grinning Goten.

"Hey Josie." Goten waved, one hand holding a hammer. She gaped at him for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"BULMA IS NOT GOING TO AGREE TO THIS!" She shouted, even louder, waving her arms about in an attempt to get away from Trunks.

"The robots are set kids!" Bulma announced, wiping the beads of sweat from her hard labor over the last two hours. She exited the Gravity Chamber and smiled comfortingly towards Josie, putting an arm on the struggling girls shoulders. "It's for your own good sweetheart. Try to have fun." Bulma encouraged, winking at her before she left them. Josie froze, shocked that out of ALL the people on this ship, Bulma was on board with them killing her in this death trap.

"You really don't want to go in there?" Trunks asked finally stopping right before they got inside. She hesitated for a minute as she was set free for a minute, looking between the two boys. "If you don't want to go in there Josie, you should escape." Trunks said simply, tugging at the back of her shirt to make her face Goten once more. He kept his grip on the back of her shirt light.

"Go for it, Josie." Trunks encouraged. "Escape." She exhaled in frustration at the sudden pop quiz and eyed Goten warily. "You're already over thinking it." Trunks pointed out. "Relax." He tightened his grip a fraction. "See? this is why we need-" As soon as he put his open palm on the middle of her back and lightly nudged her forward again, Josie briefly prayed that Goten have a jock strap protecting him today and used the momentum Trunks created to sharply kick her foot forward, turning it seconds before it hit Goten's sensitive area so only hit him with the outside of her foot rather than her heel. As soon as she pressed heavily where she intended too, she grabbed the hammer out of his hands, ducked underneath Trunks oncoming arms and stopped with her left foot forward, swinging her body towards the right with the hammer and hitting Trunks square in the back before dropping it and running with her arms over her head.

"OH NO YOU DON"T!" Trunks shouted, running to catch up to her, grabbing her right hand that swung back and began dragging her back towards the gravity room. Josie frowned as her butt dragged across the floor and reached for the chain around her neck and began blowing quickly on the whistle.

"RAPE!" She shouted, blowing the whistle again furiously. "RAPE!"

"Oh will you cut it out." Trunks scolded, quickly putting his arm around her waist instead and reaching around her with his other hand to remove the whistle from her mouth as he went past Goten.

"I'll give her points for speed and creative use of tools." Goten said, chuckling with some pain as he closed the door behind them; trying not to show through his walk that he was a little sore from that blow. Just as Josie had been hoping, he was wearing some protection, however, so he was mostly spared from agonizing pain to his sensitive man parts.

"Sorry about the low blow." Josie said with a smile, as Trunks finally let her go.

"We told you to do that for self defense, didn't we?" Goten reminded, smiling. Josie nodded as she dusted her behind.

"But you can definitely lighten up on using that friggin whistle..." Trunks mumbled, rubbing his ears as he began to play with the controls of the gravity chamber.

...

"Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic..." Valerie mumbled, nervous as she sat, freshly showered on one of the living room couches, biting her finger nails anxiously as she waited for the other girls to finish getting ready. The robots were all over the place in this room as well as many of the others, cleaning at abnormal speeds, passing across her line of field left and right every few seconds. "Keep palm, don't canic." She blinked, realizing what she said sounded wrong and groaned burying her face in her hands at her inability to even speak correctly. "Keep cool..." She muttered to herself, her heart beat beating madly in her chest.

The doorbell rang.

"PANIC!" She shouted, unintentionally, rising up from her seat; sending the bots into a frenzy as she waved her hands frantically. Bra walked down the stairs, calmly putting on her final earring and eyed the living room critically. She nodded in approval.

"Bots deactivate in your pods." Bra commanded. All the robots stopped their frenzied movements and moved out in an orderly fashion.

"HELLO?" Their were two hard bangs at the door before they heard Chichi's voice again. "IS ANYONE HOME?" Valerie looked at Bra with fear who merely arched a brow at her, crossing her arms.

"What are you waiting for?" Bra asked, smirking. "Go open the door."

"But this is your house!" Valerie hissed.

"And it's YOUR future mother-in-law." Bra retorted, just as quickly making Valerie gasp in outrage. Bra's smirk only widened as she nodded once more for the door. Valerie made her way to it, sticking out her tongue at the youngest Briefs before stopping at the double doors. She took a deep breath and plastered on a very forced smile before opening the doors to a seething Chichi. Valerie gulped and immediately took a step back.

"H-hello, Miss Chichi." Valerie greeted nervously. "How are y-you?"

"Don't 'how are you' me, missy." Chichi said angrily, stepping through the doors and looking around furiously for the party with a trailing Giru looking terrified. "Where's your wild party?" She asked, quickly disappearing as she headed into the dinning room and popping out a minute later looking very confused.

"Miss Chichi, we're not sure what you're talking about..." Bra started, looking very genuinely bothered by the accusation. "We're too young for that."

"HA!" Chichi interrupted, eyes narrowed. "I know you, little girl. You drag my little Pan into things she shouldn't be doing." Bra's eyes began to narrow as well.

"You're granddaughter isn't half as innocent as you think she is, Chichi, and it's not fair for you to say something like that when there's clearly no party here." Bra reasoned, gesturing towards the perfectly clean space. Chichi hesitated for a minute, studying the girl suspiciously before finally nodding with an exhale.

"I'm sorry, Bra. I heard noises on the phone and a boy picked up the phone-"

"That was my fault, grandma." Pan took the blame, coming down the stairs with a happy smile for her only grandmother. "A friend of mine came over to watch a movie with us while mama was gone shopping." She lied, as she bounced on the last step. "Giru!" She exclaimed happily as the little robot rushed to her arms.

"Pan! Pan!" He happily repeated. "Giru detects large quantities of roboti-" Pan smacked him straight down on his head to stop him from finishing his sentence and giving them up to her grandma. Chichi looked over at them questioningly, her arms crossed but only saw the girls grin sheepishly.

"Where's Videl?" Chichi asked finally, taking a seat.

"Mama's in the shower." Pan exclaimed.

"Would you like something to drink, Miss Chichi? a cup of tea?" Chichi finally perked up, nodding with a smile for Valerie.

"Why, yes, that would be lovely, Valerie." Valerie bowed slightly, embarrassed and started to leave.

"Butt kisser." Bra coughed, making Valerie freeze for a moment, glaring at her.

"What was that?" Chichi asked, smiling over at Bra.

"It's great you're here." Bra said simply receiving a nod. Valerie quickly scurried into the kitchen and made a hot cup of tea for Chichi, bringing a tray out for her with all of the essentials hearing Chichi update them on what Giru and her had been doing while the boys have been gone.

"I don't think I've ever cleaned my house so much." Chichi said with a laugh. "We've been stock piling for when they come back, haven't we, Giru?" Chichi asked the little robot who nodded in the air.

"Yes. Giru bargain shop." Giru said proudly.

"Now that I've done everything I possibly could at Mount Paozu, however, I'm planning to stay here with you girls to help keep things running smoothly until Bulma comes back." Bra gasped.

"Uh... you r-really don't have to do that, Chichi, Videl's doing a great job." She attempted to reassure. Chichi shook her head.

"Don't be silly, Bra, I promised Bulma I'd keep an eye on you girls while she was gone. I can't very well do that from home."

"You could call?" Bra suggested.

"Or we could come visit..?" Pan added, nervously.

"I'm staying here!" Chichi shouted. "And that's final... unless, you girls really don't want me to stay.." Chichi said with a frown, eyes downcast and beginning to swim in tears. "Now that Goku, Goten and Gohan are gone I have no one to take care of and it gets lonely in the mountains... no one to talk to but dinosaurs and other animals.." She took a deep, dramatic breath. "But if you girls can't stand the idea of an old woman who only wants a little human interaction.." Pan stood up abruptly.

"Don't be silly grandma, I'll go get your bags out of the car." She hurriedly took the keys off of the coffee table and went out the door.

"I'll help!" Bra quickly said, rushing out after her. A minute of silence passed before Chichi remembered Valerie was in the room and focused her sights on her. Valerie gulped, still standing with her tray, somewhat dumbstruck.

"...Honey?" Valerie offered up the tray.

...

"Are you ready? We're about to enter their atmosphere." Bulma informed, looking completely focused on her task as the ship began to shake.

"Don't scream.. Don't scream.." Josie quietly said to herself, eyes wide; her hands tightly holding onto the arms of her stiff chair.

"Yes. Please don't." Goku begged nervously.

"It'll only be a few minutes." Trunks reassured from the seat behind Josie's, wishing that the seats could be closer so that he could help keep her calm. Josie forced herself to look a bit to the side, able to see a little of his hair, she nodded so that he knew that she had heard what he'd said. Through her peripheral she caught Piccolo fumbling with his seat belt and smiled before her eyes widened as she shaking intensified. She bowed her head and tightly closed her eyes as the ship shook left to right, not daring to open her eyes and see the fast approaching planet for fear that she would scream at the top of her lungs, or worse, that she'd loose her dinner.

"Hold on guys." Bulma warned as she expertly moved the controls, checking the screens for any hiccup in her upcoming landing. She nodded, grinning. "Touching down everyone in five... four... three... two... one." The ship shook forward once and then abruptly came back making everyone's head hit the head rest.

"We s-should really add some cushions to prevent..." Josie took a deep breathe. Trunks quickly undid his restraints and crouched in front of her making quick work of her own.

"Hey." He attempted to get her attention. She shakily exhaled and raised her shocked eyes to his.

"Trunks?" He nodded, smiling reassuringly.

"You did great, okay? we're very proud of you."

"You're damn right we are, kiddo." Bulma said over to her, giving her a thumbs up. Josie finally began to smile, nodding. The others talked amongst themselves preparing to get off the ship. "Ready to help me cool this mean machine down and re-stock fuel?" Bulma offered Josie as she and Trunks led her down into the docking area.

"I would love too but could we..." Josie hesitated to ask, knowing fully well that she had agreed to do everything they asked of her as a condition to her coming here. Bulma smiled and nodded, knowing exactly what she wanted.

"Go for it, kid." She encouraged. "Do you think you can watch her a few minutes and I can meet you guys out there in a few?" Bulma asked.

"Of course, mom." Trunks assured. He picked Josie up and flew out to catch up with the others who were already outside. As soon as they left the quiet hum of the spaceship the first thing Josie was aware of underneath the bright light of the sun was the smells. She did not realize she had become so accustomed to the smells of metal, fire, foods and sweat but this smell...

Josie inhaled deeply, the smell of land and trees, dirt, water and plants soothing her very soul after what felt like weeks of worry. All the chaos and trepidation about the impending visit to this planet and she now that she was here she felt more secure and comfortable in the epicenter of where this evil was harming innocents than out in space where nothing was threatening them.

"Go figure." She chuckled as Trunks set her down giving her questioning look. He didn't question her random thought though, instead, making his way to the others. Josie briefly glanced at the others who approached two Nameks and instead of listening in on the conversation she crouched on the ground fascinated with the blue grass. She shook her head it, dropping on her bottom to get a closer look feeling it's texture. "Wow it's soft.." She said, laughing in disbelief, fascinated.

"Elder Moori is expecting you all," The taller Namek began. "We thank you for making the long an arduous journey but we must hasten, we do not think you are safe here." Josie did hear that and got up with a blade of grass in hand and turned towards the ship, preparing to go back and tell Bulma but the older woman was two steps ahead of her and had already capsulized the ship, caught it in the air and was already shoving it in her pants pocket, nodding.

"Let's go." Bulma said, jogging over to Vegeta, recognizing business faces when she saw them. Vegeta took to the air quickly, followed by the others who went off. Goten hovered above Trunks and Josie.

"You taking her, Trunks?" Goten asked. Trunks nodded and offered his hand to Josie.

"Are you ready for this?" He asked her, smiling. Josie shook her head wildly.

"Hell no." She admitted, grinning. " Let's go!" She shouted excitedly, holding the blade of grass tightly to her chest.

**Notes:** I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I love the challenges the girls have to face with their lack of strength and I hope you guys found this chapter amusing too. Stay tuned for Namek and please send me a quick review to at least say hi!


	21. Chapter 21: Bonds that tie us

**Note: **Thank you to Biganimefan84 and Thomas Drovin for the reviews! you guys are awesome.

I'm sorry guys, I've been having a really hard time writing and this was, for some reason, the hardest chapter to force out of me. I'm not sure if its the last of feedback or I'm loosing my motivation to keep writing but it really, really helps to hear from you guys. Don't get me wrong, as long as I keep feeling like I can write for this, I will (With or without reviews) but it's during tough times like this where I'd appreciate any drop ins to just say Howdy.

Thanks guys for continuing to read, that in and of itself means a lot, and thank you again, Biganimefan84/Thomas, you two are FANTASTIC reviewers :) every time you tell me something you like, I take note of it to incorporate more of that in the story. Thank you.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 21: Bonds that tie us**

"Hello?" Valerie greeted, as she stared up at a screen in one of Bulma's offices. Bulma had informed the girls that they would attempt to communicate whenever possible and Giru had been first to receive the video call signal, alerting Valerie while she was in her room. She had gone alone, assuming that Giru would inform the others and that they'd be there soon enough.

She hadn't anticipated Josie being on the large screen though, grinning at her.

"Hey fool!" Josie greeted happily.

"Dude?" Valerie asked, smiling hesitatingly. "You can hear me?"

"Loud and clear, my short friend! loud and clear. Bulma said to let you guys know that we got here safely." She explained, receiving a nod.

"That's awesome, man." Valerie said genuinely. "..How is it?" She asked curiously. Josie's eyes widened.

"It's CRAZY!" Josie said loudly, waving her hands in the air excitedly. "Everything is green, Val! everything! ...except the grass." She reminded herself, pulling up the blade of grass for Valerie's viewing. "See?" Valerie laughed at that, shaking her head.

"You seem much more calm." Valerie pointed out. Josie shrugged with a grin.

"Worrying doesn't look good on me." She laughed. "Causes wrinkles, right here." She pointed at her general forehead. "I don't know.." Josie said with a thoughtful shrug. "I feel calm now.. I mean I know I shouldn't, seeing as there's obviously something evil here but It's just very cool knowing that things are going to come out alright." Valerie laughed.

"It's cool, eh? and how do you know how things will turn out?" Valerie asked, somewhat jokingly.

"Make fun all you want." Josie grinned. "But its Dragon Ball Z Val... when don't the good guys win?" Josie asked. Valerie tilted her head and thought back to the show's history, nodding in acknowledgement.

"I guess you're right but this never existed before we got here." Valerie reminded, Josie thought that over for a minute before finally responding with a light shrug.

"It doesn't matter. We'll win and our lives will change here, Val. I feel it!" Josie shouted, pumped.

"Alright there, crazy psychic." Valerie laughed. After a few minutes of light hearted banter back and forth, Josie looked off screen and shook her head.

"Uh oh. Looks like Vegeta is loosing his patience. Gotta go, Val. Someone will call you guys later and please let everyone know that all their families are doing great." Josie waved at her friend one final time before closing the connection and leaving the room that the Nameks had allowed them to use. Bulma waited for her outside the door and smiled.

"How did it go?" She asked, having set it up so Josie could communicate with her friend.

"It went good. All the girls are great." Josie assured, staying beside Bulma and surveying the table full of men eating and talking. "How's it going out here?" She asked, nodding towards the table. Bulma sighed and shook her head to signify it wasn't going great.

"Thank you very much for the meal." Gohan thanked Elder Moori who sat at the end of the table.

"You're quite welcome, thank you for coming to our planet on such short notice." He replied generously.

"Yeah, yeah, you're all grateful, so where's this bad guy?" Vegeta asked, pushing his seat back and standing up across from Goku who slapped his forehead, embarrassed. Trunks and Goten laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of their own heads.

"Yes, of course." Elder Moori agreed, smile disappearing as he thought about all that had occurred on his home within the last few weeks. A bead of sweat came down his face as he gathered himself to explain.

"I believe that Dende and Piccolo have informed you of some of the details of why we requested your help. What we know is that many, too many, of my people are disappearing in great numbers. When I send the best of my men to investigate, we do not see them again. The only ones who've come back have died shortly after. We've sent more in hopes of retrieving the dragon balls, assuming that whoever is doing this may want something to do with them and those sons have not come back either.

"We've managed to protect three of the balls thus far but have now taken heed of Dende's advice to stop further investigation of the problem until you arrived. Our numbers are depleting rapidly and we've... run out of options." Elder Moori explained, his shoulders dropping with the weight of his guilt for being unable to protect his people. Piccolo had paced behind the Elder as he explained the situation and now stopped, placing his hand on the Elder's shoulder.

"You did the right thing." Piccolo assured. Goku smiled, standing up.

"Piccolo's right. We'll take care of it from here." Elder Moori finally smiled, nodding as he stood up.

"Thank you friends." He bowed with genuine appreciation. They shared a few more pleasantries and a few Nameks helped Bulma set the spaceship right beside the Elder's home.

"It's pretty cool that they're helping your mom with some of the spaceship tasks." Josie admired from a distance as she watched Bulma explain some of the technology of the ship to two Nameks. "I really thought I'd be the only one." She laughed. Trunks nodded with a smile, glancing briefly to the side to where Goku and the others were preparing to take off. Josie noticed it too and her posture visibly tensed. "Time to go huh?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah." Trunks said, focusing back on her.

"I didn't think this would start happening so quickly...it usually takes so long in the show." She chuckled, anxiously scratching at her right arm.

"Don't worry." Trunks assured with a bright smile reaching out and gently taking her left hand away so she didn't hurt herself. "We'll be fine and back before you know it." She nodded, remaining quiet. "I mean it!" He laughed, rubbing the back of his head with his other hand. "We'll be back by dinner, we're not going to pick any fights - just scouting to see if we see anything unusual, getting familiarized with this planet so we're not at a disadvantage if we have to fight."

"I guess you're right huh? Just not use to this.." Josie finally exhaled with a grin.

"Am ... I interrupting?" Goten asked cheekily, grinning as he approached them with his hands behind his back. Trunks looked at him with some confusion and Goten only raised his eyebrows, moving his eyes towards their hands. Trunks eyes quickly shifted to her hand that he was still holding in his and a blush crept up his cheeks and he immediately let her go as if she'd burned him.

"Grow up, Goten." Trunks growled, uncomfortably, punching his best friend in the arm before starting to go towards the others. Josie tilted her head, barely having felt Trunks hand around her own. She shrugged, not really giving it any serious thought as Goten waved goodbye to her.

"See you later Josie!" Goten shouted as he hovered in the air, the others looked over.

"Don't follow us!" Trunks warned to which only Josie replied by rolling her eyes.

"Seriously, please don't." Gohan requested nervously as Goku, Piccolo and Vegeta flew off.

"Go already, I'll stay put!" Josie shouted in annoyance waving them off until they were out of sight. She stared at the dots of her friends that disappeared into the horizon and took a slow and deep breath. "For now..." She smiled, giddy at the thought of disobeying orders in the near future and happily began to trek back towards the ship.

After a few steps, her pace slowed down as she thought of the brave fighters who were heading into complete unknown, not caring about the possible dangers. She shook her head knowing that truly, these kinds of men could truly only exist here, she smiled as she came to a complete stop. "Be careful guys." She quietly mumbled, glancing back once more at the sky.

...

On earth:

"I can't believe you didn't keep her on the line until I could have a chance to talk to her." Bra pouted, unhappily on her bed as Valerie stood at her doorway looking shame faced.

"I'm sorry." Valerie repeated. "Giru told me and it was all so sudden." She attempted to explain, biting her knuckle nervously. "But!" She started excitedly, remembering. "She did tell me that Bulma was going to call again in a few hours once they were further settled in."

"You bet she is." Chichi said strongly, coming in behind Valerie, who moved to the side to allow the older woman who was carrying a suitcase into the room. Bra stood up, confused.

"Miss Chichi? I thought we set you up in a room in my parents wing...you know, farther away from here." Bra laughed nervously.

"Yes, my room is fine, thank you Bulla." Chichi replied with some attitude, her nose held high.

"I prefer Bra." Bra clenched her upheld fist.

"Why?" Valerie asked Bra, horrified, receiving only a glare in response to which Valerie put her hands up with her palms facing upward asking, 'what?' silently, confused.

"I was going through some of my belongings," Chichi interrupted the silent exchange as she lightly swung her suitcase on Bra's bed and opened it up. "And I came across these." She held up a modest brown dress that covered the wearer from wrist to ankle, leaving no exposed skin whatsoever. Bra sweat dropped, grossed out, taking it from Chichi's offering hand with only two fingers as if it had a disease. "These were dresses that I wore when I was younger." She explained.

"I have things in this suitcase from when I was twelve to when I was twenty. I thought you two might enjoy these for yourself instead of throwing them away. Pan's too young to fit into any of these."

"No thank you, I wouldn't want to deprive you of your... memories. " Bra commented dryly as she eyed the material, attempting to hide her distaste for the garment and doing a terrible job at it. Valerie took it from Bra's hands, glaring at her for her disrespectful attitude and gave a small bow of gratitude.

"Arigatou, Miss Chichi." Valerie said shyly. Chichi's eyes lit up at that, studying Valerie more carefully. She had spent some time talking over the phone with Bulma about these two girls that had dropped in from another galaxy entirely and though she'd been difficult to convince of their intentions, Chichi was finally starting to see why Bulma liked them so much.

"Oh wow, this is awesome!" Chichi snapped out of her reverie and looked at what Valerie was holding up excitedly. "This is the outfit you wore when you fought Goku at the World Martial Arts Tournament, right before you got married!" Valerie said amazed. Chichi beamed at the recognition and smiled, blushing.

"Yes, it is." She agreed, unconsciously bringing her closed hands to her chest as she thought about those happy times. "We were so young and happy then."

"This is great stuff, thank you for showing us this.." Valerie said with open amazement, honestly thrilled. Chichi nodded and genuinely smiled at the girl.

"It's my pleasure... Valerie, right?" Valerie nodded, blushing once more making Bra roll her eyes.

"I'm going to go see what Pan's doing." Bra shook her head, feeling awkward as she quickly left the room, completely unnoticed by the two.

"It's nice to see not all manners are gone from this younger generation." Chichi said, smiling to the side at her, approval beginning to twinkle in her eyes. "You can keep the dress if you'd like." Chichi could swear that she had just handed this girl the keys to all the riches of the world by how big her eyes became.

"Y-you mean it?" Valerie asked in complete awe. "I... I shouldn't. I couldn't possibly- i-it's too.." She shook her head, eyes still wide. Chichi reached out and put her hand on Valerie's shoulder, comfortingly.

"You care a lot for my family, don't you?" Chichi asked the very personal question. Valerie stared at her with surprise.

"I...Yes." She gulped, nervously holding the material to her stomach. "Since I was very little." She smiled. "Goku's my hero," She admitted, looking down in an attempt to hide her blush. "And your sons, both of them... are very special. Goten is a great friend." Chichi's smile grew at that and she could feel why her son loved to be with these girls.

"Please keep it." Chichi said simply. "It would be an honor to see you wear it someday... although I might have to let out a seam or two in the bust region." Valerie laughed, shaking her head feeling even more embarrassed. "But other than that... in a year or two that dress should fit you beautifully." Chichi said with confidence.

"This is incredible, Chichi, I'll never forget this." Valerie assured, surging forward to embrace the older woman in a fierce hug making her laugh lightly.

...

"Ooh it's amazing here." Josie groaned with contentment as she put her hands behind her head as she and Bulma relaxed out in the sun after a hard days for the two girls that set up everything for the group while the others were gone.

"You sure you don't want a blanket or towel?" Bulma asked, glancing over at Josie who remained comfortably atop the grass, laying on her belly, resting her chin against a forearm as her other hand she played lazily with the ground.

"With grass this soft... there's no need." Josie mumbled happily, looking up at the green sky. "This place is amazing." She said for what must have been a fifth time.

"Mhmm." Bulma agreed, resting her hands on her stomach, intending to sun bathe.

"And it smells so... green here." Josie laughed softly, unsure of how else to describe it.

"Chlorophyll." Bulma answered, yawning. Josie raised an eyebrow at her but Bulma was far too sleepy and content to explain what she meant any further. Josie blinked, surprised, realizing Bulma was falling asleep. A slow smile creeped it's way onto her face as she carefully raised herself on her hands and knees, barely remembering to breathe as she studied the older woman for any movement. She slowly began to crawl away, stopping to glance at Bulma every few feet, half expecting Bulma to get up and yell at her for moving.

She grinned when she realized she wasn't going to get caught and more excitedly began to shuffle/crawl away. Once she felt she was at a safer distance she finally got up and moved herself even further away from the edge of the town where they had been relaxing at. She whistled happily the further she got away, following a stream of moving water into a large open lake.

By her calculations she was truly only about half a mile away from where Bulma was and could still see her... if she squinted. She truthfully felt she was being very good by staying on the same stretch of land because she had been very tempted to move on to another small island nearby but she didn't, because she was good. She studied the lake with a tilted head and dipped a toe, considering taking a small swim. The water felt very comfortable, by no means warm but not cold at all.

Looking down at her attire she realized she probably wasn't wearing clothes that shouted: swim time! but she gave a light shrug and dove into the water, jeans and all with a big smile on her face. She surfaced a few seconds later, shuddering from the shocking temperature as she treaded through the green water.

"The last thing I expected this place to be like was a vacation." She thought out loud as she happily swam to the other side of the lake. She would occasionally go underneath the water to swim just beneath the surface and attempted to open her eyes, immediately cringing as she came back up thinking maybe she should have brought goggles. "I can' try taking on two Saiyans but I can't even try to open my eyes under water." She rolled her eyes as she spit out water, knowing that would be just like her.

She looked down into the water, able to see something shine and tilted her head as she continued to tread water. "Pretty." She mumbled and attempted to dive underwater and open her eyes once more to see it. Her vision blurred underneath the water but she saw a flash of dark green and white material. Her eyebrows drew down in confusion but she shook her head having to quickly swim up when a tickle in her throat made her unintentionally take in water. She sputtered as she surfaced, moving her hair back out of her face.

"How did I know I'd find the calf straying from the rest of the cattle?" Josie screamed, surprised and turned every which direction, looking for the source of the voice. She shielded her eyes as she looked up and recognized Trunks shoes. Her eyes narrowed as he descended, his arms crossed and a frown on her face.

"Keep calling me a cow and see what happens.." She hissed making him crack a smile. He shook his head, frowning once more as he attempted to look angry.

"Josie.." She sighed, nodding, knowing very well he was upset she had left the safety of the village .

"I know, Trunks, I know." She raised her left hand and he wordless pulled her up out of the water. She looked back down as the droplets from her body caused tiny little ripples of water and attempted to narrow her eyes on where she'd seen something in the water.

"There's baths on the ship, you know." He said, still irritated as he finally set her down on land at the edge of the water. "You didn't have to come all the way out here."

"I know." She repeated as she immediately brought her knees to her chest to obtain some warmth as he sat beside her. "I just wanted to explore. I wasn't going any farther than this." She said with a sigh, turning to his angry eyes. "Do the others know?"

He shook his head. "No." He admitted. "They're all reconvening inside Elder Moori's, I told mom I had seen you just behind the ship picking at some plants. I hope for your sake she bought it." She nodded with a faint smile.

"Thanks, Trunks." He shrugged as he began to take off his shoes and socks.

"Consider us even after my blow up on you about Francis." Josie grinned, nodding as she absentmindedly began to rub her arms for warmth.

"Wait." She looked at him with confusion. "You came back sooner than I thought ya'll would." She pointed out. He nodded, dipping his feet in as he took off his coat and handed it to her, she smiled her thanks and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her hair out over the coat so it didn't press onto her already cold skin. He leaned his hands back and took a deep breath, attempting to relax.

"Yeah, we didn't find anything." He said with a sigh. Josie raised he brows, surprised.

"Well... you guys couldn't have looked everywhere." She attempted to assure. Trunks shook his head.

"We ALL split up." He insisted. "We circled the entire planet and didn't see any abnormalities other than some destroyed towns that they had already told us about, no activity there. Most Villages have about twenty inhabitants and some that we flew over... you could see all the fear they've had to endure the last few weeks." He said, frowning down at the water. "They're all frightened and with most of their warrior Nameks gone, they have no one to defend them. They're constantly afraid and some places only have two or three left Nameks left at all. We really should have come sooner." Trunks said with self deprecation. Josie immediately noticed his burrowed brow and his fists clenching in the grass.

"Hey." She called, quickly reaching her hand into the water and giving him a light quick spray of water. He blinked, attempting to block it from disturbing his eyes and turned to glare at her.

"Yes?" He asked with some annoyance, ignoring her smile.

"Come-on." She insisted, standing up and tugging lightly at a few strands of his hair to get him to come up. He did so without arguing and she took his hand, pointing it at a very tall tree not too far away.

"I don't get it, Josie." He said impatiently, taking his hand back.

"Take me there, please?" Trunks groaned, arms on his hips.

"You've got to be kidding me." He said shaking his head, not in the mood.

"Trust me, will you?" She pleaded, smiling. He sighed and was about to reach for his shoes when she put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Leave them here, let's go." He shrugged and picked her cold and wet frame up slowly to the top of the tree, finding a branch right underneath where the branches began to fill with green leaves to set her down. He sat on the only other one right behind her, attempting to make himself comfortable. Josie ignored all of awkward movements behind her and turned slightly, hand out to keep herself steady on the upward branch taking in the vista. "I knew it.." She murmured, moving her wet hair behind her ear.

"What?" Trunks asked, distracted with trying to make the space comfortable.

"Oh for the love of-" Josie raised her right leg and straddled the branch to create plenty of space and yanked at his sweater for him to sit with her. He sat facing forward with his legs now freely dangling down with his left knee barely grazing her left one. He smiled down at the ground, feeling a lot more comfortable now, he was surprised when he felt her small hand raise his chin and make him look straight out at the scene before him. "Look out, Trunks. Look at how beautiful it is here." She insisted making him take in the green and yellow sky cloudless, the mountain rages in the distance, the monumental rock formations that peaked at enormous heights, some with seemingly yellow waterfalls crashing over them.

"Yes. There is something very wrong on this planet and there are a lot of innocent people missing but for now, for just this moment, enjoy what a beautiful planet we're on. Just for a minute. Enjoy the serenity, will ya?" She asked rhetorically, punching his chin lightly with her fist. He smiled as his head moved with the motion and nodded.

"I guess you're right." He agreed, lightly swaying his feet. "And it is beautiful from up here." He acknowledged. Josie nodded, turning her head to the side and looking out to share the same view.

"I knew it would be." Josie said confidently, making him chuckle.

"Sorry about the serious minute there." He apologized, feeling his body relax a lot more now. "It's just easy to forget about these kind of things happening during times of peace and when you see it..." Josie nodded.

"You care." She said simply. "There's nothing wrong with that." He nodded in response and the two enjoyed the spectacular view of the mountain ranges, the dramatic rock formations and the striking green sky in amicable silence.

..

On earth:

Throughout the evening Valerie stuck relatively close to Chichi's side, listening intently to stories of years before, ranging from when she and Goku first got married, to Gohan and Goten's respective childhoods.

"Thanks for agreeing to make dinner tonight, Chichi." Videl smiled gratefully towards the older woman who had the whole kitchen set up for cooking. Chichi returned the smile from the stove, nodding.

"No problem, Videl. You girls have fun."

"You sure you don't want to come, Valerie?" Videl asked from the doorway leading to the dinning room. Valerie was putting an apron over her own head and shook her head as she tied it around her waist.

"No thanks. I'll just stay home today." Videl grinned, nodding.

"Alright, well be back soon." She assured as she left the room. A few minutes of short conversation, Chichi signaled Valerie over to a wide counter that had various ingredients. "Alright, you ready to make our stock?" Valerie picked up some dried kelp off the counter and lightly sniffed it, wrinkling her nose.

"Can't we just buy stock at the store?" Chichi groaned, shaking her head.

"What do they teach you in your world?" She asked, depressed, only receiving a grin in response.

"I dunno." Valerie replied, sheepishly.

"Well," Chichi sighed as she took the kelp from Valerie. "It'll taste a lot better made from scratch, I assure you, Goten and the boys wouldn't have it any other way." She said insistently. Valerie shrugged, not really seeing how that related to her but caving in to the older woman's request, giving a nod for her to go on. "This," Chichi continued. "Is Kombu and it's very healthy for you, it has a lot of minerals, vitamins, protein and dietary fiber." Valerie looked on, impressed.

"You can make stock from a few alternate ingredients but I like the basics." Chichi explained with a light shrug. "Pass me the that." She pointed at a small white bowl with whispy cream colored flakes.

"What's that?" Valerie asked, smelling it as she passed it.

"Bonito fish." Chichi said simply making Valerie's eyes widened.

"Let me guess... healthy too?"

"Yes, rich minerals, vitamins and protein." Chichi grinned. "Now shut your smart mouth before I decide we should catch a Bonito fish ourselves for Katsuobushi; to make THAT from scratch the fish has to be filleted, boned, boiled, smoked and dried in the sun." Chichi said dryly. "So consider yourself lucky that we're not doing that... today, Missy." Valerie laughed. "And go get me a pot of water, we need to start soaking this kombu if we're ever going to make this Udon."

"Hai, ma'am!"

...

"Hey, what are you doing there, Mrs. Briefs." Josie called, smiling as she entered the infirmary where Bulma was laying out sterilized tools on trays. "Is... someone sick?" Josie asked, slowing her steps as she stopped in front of a tray to stare down at the needle and vials with her hands casually on her hips.

"Hey sweetie." Bulma glanced over from where she was standing in front of the sink, looking through the cabinets above it for more alcohol swabs. Josie tilted her head, noting Bulma's attire.

"Scrubs, latex gloves and a stethescope? this must be serious." Josie said, confused.

Bulma shook her head, "No, no ones sick." She assured. "I'm just setting up to give the guys some vaccines for viruses frequently known in these parts." Josie nodded.

"Need help?" Josie offered.

Bulma had her wash her hands thoroughly up to her wrists and put on latex gloves. She instructed her on what instruments to grab and how to create a sterile environment for all she needed.

"I'm trying to get this done as soon as possible so I can finish up a device I'm working on." Bulma admitted to Josie who merely arched a brow.

"What is it?" Bulma grinned in reply.

"I'll show you as soon as we're done, how about that?" Josie gave her a thumbs up with her gloved hand and left the room to go to the kitchen where the guys were eating. She hesitated when she saw Goku and hid her hands behind her back as she casually made her way to Gohan and whispered in his ear. He stood up and left the room, leaving Josie to awkwardly attempt to escape without her gloves being noticed. She smiled and disappeared going into the infirmary as Gohan was absently rubbing his band aid on his arm.

"Can you ask Trunks to come in here." Gohan nodded, getting up. "And Gohan?" He looked over at Bulma who was throwing away the wrappings left behind. She turned to him with a hand on her hip, looking at him seriously. "Don't tell Goku."

"And don't let him see your arm." Josie added receiving a nod from Bulma. Gohan grinned.

"You got it." He assured.

"Can I do Trunks', pleasee?" Josie begged, turning abruptly towards Bulma, gloved hands clasped in front of her chest, smile wide. Bulma laughed, surprised at the sudden request.

"I don't know, Josie..." She hesitated. "Have you ever administered a shot?"

"Yes!" Josie confidently shouted. "A lot actually, I usually only do insulin shots and this needle really isn't much bigger but I've drawn blood before too." Bulma arched a brow.

"What do they teach you in your world?" Bulma asked, confused. Josie shrugged lightly, grin still in place.

"I dunno." Josie replied, neither girl knowing that a very similar exchange had just taken place on earth.

Bulma still seemed unsure. "Come-on!" Josie insisted. "You can watch every bit of it, he'll be safe as ducks. Watch." Josie stepped forward and opened a alcohol swab, cleaning off the lid of the vial and efficiently opened a brand new syringe and pulled back the plunger of the syringe and pushed it forward. She gently inserted the needle into the vial and pulled the correct portion into the barrel, just the way she had seen Bulma do earlier. Once she was satisfied that she had the right the amount, she pulled the syringe out and turned it upside down, tapping it gently to remove any air bubbles and expelled a tiny amount of liquid to be on the safe side before holding it out for Bulma's inspection.

"Not bad." Bulma admitted after a minute of holding examining it thoroughly in her own hands. "Alright, you have to do it on me first though." Josie eyed her warily. "Come-on, if you're so confident in your ability." She goaded, smiling. "Let's see your moves, hot shot."

"Oh you win." Josie sighed, willing to take a small risk with Trunks but never on Bulma. "I'll only watch... but can I pretend?" Before Bulma could ask what she was talking about Trunks entered the room.

"Hi mom... and Josie, what's going on?" He asked.

"Please take a seat and take off your jacket." Josie politely requested with a smile on her face that immediately made Trunks uneasy. He slowly came further into the room, eyeing them suspiciously, doing as she asked. Josie only continued to smile at him as she asked for the needle that Bulma was still holding; Bulma handed it over without an argument, attempting to hide her smile. "Whoa, why are you holding that?" Trunks asked, eyes wide as he immediately stood up.

"Your mom must have told you that we're giving out vaccines for a common virus out here." Josie stated, innocently.

"She didn't say YOU'D be giving the shot!" He argued, shaking his head as he took a step back.

"Oh come-on, it's a shot!" She gestured dramatically towards it. "As long as the liquidy stuff gets inside of you, it's all the same, isn't it?" She asked, grinning.

"No! DEFINITELY not all the same!" He shouted. "Do you even know WHERE in the body you're supposed to inject that?" He asked, incredulous. Josie gave the question a lot of pretend thought before giving a lazy shrug.

"I don't know... in the butt?" Josie grinned as his face turned beet red and his head seemed to enlarge with righteous indignation looking like he was about to explode. "I'm just kidding!" She assured quickly, laughing. "Just some Doctor humor for you." She smiled. "Of course I know I'd be injecting your.. altoid?" She continued the game, smiling.

"DELTOID!" He shouted, eyes wide. "This is not funny! you can't give medical attention when you cant even identify the correct route!" He said definitively, grabbing roughly at his coat.

"Oh come-on, give me your arm already!" She argued excitedly, approaching him with a grin. "There's nothing important in your arm - all you've got is muscles, you'll be fine!" She assured as she followed after him.

"Nothing important?" He asked, stopping, as he turned around, eyes wide. "What if you hit my bone or a blood vessel or a NERVE!" Josie chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"You're so dramatic, Trunks." Josie commented, grinning as she made her way back to the tray, setting the syringe down and making a big show of taking off her gloves so that Trunks would relax, something, which took a few minutes for him to do and a lot of assurance from his mother. Josie only stood back with her arms crossed and a devilish grin on her face.

"Stop smiling!" He shouted as his mom wiped his arm with an alcohol swab. "You look too suspicious!" He said, annoyed. "In fact, I'd feel better if you stepped out."

Josie arched a brow in response but continued to smile, "You're so mistrustful." She said with a shake of her head as she made her way out to accommodate the tense boy, having ultimately accomplished her goal of making him as uncomfortable as possible anyway.

Trunks left a few minutes later, muttering to himself unhappily as he rubbed his arm.

"I'm sorry, son." Bulma said with a shake of her head as she followed after him and shook her head. "It wouldn't have stung at all if you weren't so tense." Josie chuckled, knowing she was entirely to blame for that. Bulma only smiled over at Josie in response. "We need to come up with a plan for Goku." Josie crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway, nodding.

"Maybe we should just have all the boys hold him still?" Josie suggested. Bulma gave the idea consideration but eventually shook her head and sighed.

"I don't think any of them could hold them down for a needle..." Josie scratched the side of her head lightly.

"Maybe when he's sleeping?" Josie offered.

"..." Bulma frowned in thought as she considered all the ways that that could backfire. There were a lot of things she could see going wrong with that plan, but all the same, it was still their best shot to do it while he was unconscious. "Maybe if I slip him a heavy sedative before he sleeps?" Bulma added to it.

"...We can tell him we're giving them a late desert and put it all over that." Bulma shook her head thoughtfully.

"No, it would have to be more direct, a drink would work but for it to take effect on a guy like Goku, we couldn't just put it all over food." Josie nodded, straightening, Bulma looked over at the two and they headed to the kitchen without another word in order to prepare themselves for their own battle they'd have to face against the strongest Saiyan in the universe.

* * *

**Note**: I hope this wasn't the worst chapter out there. I'm terrified that the material will show how much I had to force this last installment. I posted this a week later than my usual simply because of how hard it was to write but the new chapter is flowing with more ease and with the impending action I'm hoping it'll start to flow more again.

A special thank you to Thomas Drovin for being such a good friend and great reader! I have a surprise for you in the future, sir ;)


	22. Chapter 22: Shots Ring

**Disclaimer:** I own two squashes and a turtle dove.

I was going to post this on the usual Sunday but I've been sharing some wonderful back and forth conversation with Maniikuu that has really cheered me up and since the chapter is finished, I thought, why not? Saturday this week it is!

**Dude Where's My World**

Revised

**Chapter 22**: Shots Ring

"..Goku?" King Kai asked, sweat dropping as he took a hesitant step towards Goku who sat underneath a tree, legs and arms crossed, eyes closed and a deep frown etched on his face with the slightest hint of a pout on his features.

"What's up with him?" West Kai asked, adjusting his monocle, arms behind his back as he came beside King Kai who shook his head.

"He came here last night and sat there in that spot and has not moved since." King Kai explained. "He babbled on about friends betraying him after saving them countless times but I haven't gotten him to say anything else."

"KING KAI, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Gohan's voice rang loudly through King Kai's head, his antenna's twitched as it received the message and he frowned at the loud interruption.

"Yes, loud and clear, no need to shout." He scolded, turning away from Goku to speak more comfortable. "What can I do for you, Gohan."

"...Can you tell my father to come back?" Gohan requested, sighing. "Tell him we're sorry that we tried to give him a shot - that it was for his own good."

"Shots are NEVER A GOOD THING!" Goku shouted defensively from his spot a few feet away, clearly able to hear the conversation. King Kai looked over his shoulder at the angry Saiyan fighter behind him whose fist was clenched in righteous indignation.

"...Is that what this is all about? a shot?" West Kai asked, beginning to laugh uncontrollably earning him a growl from Goku.

"STOP LAUGHING, SHOTS ARE NOTHING TO LAUGH ABOUT!" He shouted angrily. West Kai paused, startled at how genuinely upset this supremely strong warrior was over this matter.

"Uh... of course." West Kai coughed into his fist and excused himself, snickering as he left, muttering about North Kai's strongest fighter being a wimp. Goku stuck his tongue out at the retreating Kai and turned his angry gaze onto King Kai who took a step back.

"Tell them I won't come back until they promise to get rid of all the needles." He demanded.

"Goku, you're being childish!" Bulma voice rang out in annoyance. "I can't get rid of all the needles. What if someone else gets hurt and we need to use them?" She asked, frustrated.

"We don't have time for this, Goku." Piccolo's voice came in after.

"I won't come back till you all promise not to give me a shot." Goku demanded, turning away.

"Goku!" Bulma shouted, angrily. "I'm over trying to protect you from illness, I won't give you any shots!" She assured, frustrated.

"And?" He insisted.

"...And I'm sorry for to trying to shove sedatives in your mouth," She said.

"And?" He asked, still frowning.

"Ugh! And I'm sorry for trying to use a tranquilizer gun on you, okay!" She exhaled angrily. "I was desperate after you refused the drugged soup." Goku nodded, accepting her apology.

"Well it was obvious something was up after Goten and Trunks tried to hold me down for the shot in the first place." He huffed, indignantly.

"I told you that was a dumb idea!" He heard Josie shout behind Bulma.

"..." Goku sighed, ignoring the nerves in his stomach as he stood up after having been sitting so long in one spot and stretched his sore muscles. "I'll see you later King Kai." He said with a light hearted smile, all previous anger forgotten as he gave his old Master a wave before disappearing out of sight and reappearing back on the ship before Josie and Bulma whom he both eyed warily.

"No tricks." Bulma assured, showing him her hands, turning them for his inspection. "We just want you to get back to work with the others, they shouldn't be out there alone." He nodded, looking around.

"Where are they?"

"They just left, you have some catching up to do." Josie said with disinterest as she toyed with a piece of technology that Bulma had laying out on the kitchen counter. He said his goodbyes and made his way out the door as Bulma began to make her way back to Josie.

"How do you like it?" She asked, smiling as she took a seat beside the girl.

"I think it's a genius idea. Why not, right?" Josie said, looking over at her with a grin. "A scouter that can detect power levels and dragon balls? I love it - it doesn't look any different than the original too." Bulma nodded in agreement.

"I thought that maybe we were making a mistake by not bringing Giru along, but the poor little thing didn't seem to eager when Gohan asked him and I figure this way we've got something else to rely on other than him." Josie nodded.

"I'm sure he wanted to have an easy few weeks with Pan and the girls without any worries or danger."

...

"Oh come-on Giru, I know them from school and Bra wants to meet them too." Pan argued with Giru as the little robot hovered behind her and dragged her away from where she was intending to walk over to a group of guys who had to at least be three years older than Pan herself.

"Don't worry, I'll bring them over to us." Bra assured Valerie and Pan confidently, her arms crossed, smirking as one of the guys looked over and she gave them a wink.

"Bra!" Valerie scolded. Videl and Chichi had okayed them going to Visit Pan's grandfather today and had dropped them off at the shopping mall. At Pan's insistence Videl had hesitantly agree to let them walk themselves to her father's house from there, if they promised to walk directly over there without making any stops. All three girls had agreed and had been left under the care of Giru.

Big mistake.

"Pan, no!" Giru freaked out as Pan shook him off and marched over.

"Loosen up, Giru!" Bra grinned as she followed after Pan. The group of guys stopped talking and made room for the girls to join. Valerie quickly moved forward towards the group with her arms crossed as she studied the interested guys. They all had to at least be her age, by what she could tell, which meant that they were way too old to be checking out these young two.

"And who are you?" One of the guys asked Valerie, looking very interested. She sighed and shook her head, not bothering to turn her head to look at him.

"I'm not interested, that's who I am." Pan glanced at her and waved her comment off to the others.

"She's dating my uncle Goten, don't pay her any mind." She comforted the irritated male. Valerie arched a brow at her, they had gone on ONE date and everyone had to make a fuss.

"Doesn't your grandfather,** Mr. Hercule Satan** live just around the block, Pan? He's waiting for us, right? you don't think he'll come looking for his one and only GRANDDAUGHTER anytime soon?" Valerie had never seen eyes widen as quickly with as much fear as these teenagers eyes showed.

"Y-you're...Mr. S-Satan's granddaughter?" One of them gulped, terrified.

"Yeah but what does that have to do with anything?" Pan asked, frustrated as to why they were freaking out.

"Giru. Run! Hercule is coming! Hercule is coming!" Giru shouted, floating around them erratically with his arms in the air. The boys screamed and shouted at each other to move as they nearly trampled one another in their haste to run before the Champion of the World came and hurt them.

"Nice one Giru." Valerie complimented, smiling as she and the little robot high-fived.

"GIRU YOU LITTLE JERK, COME HERE!" Pan shouted angrily with a fist in the air as she went after the little robot. Bra rolled her eyes, already bored with the situation and wanting to get this visit over with.

They made their way the last few blocks to Mr. Hercule's large estate.

"Here we are." Bra said dryly, arms crossed as she looked past the gate to the large manor.

"Holy crap this place is huge..." Valerie mumbled in awe, quietly following behind them as the wide double gates opened before them. "The guy has statues of himself everywhere." Valerie marveled, awestruck.

"Yeah." Pan said with a sigh as she lead the group. "That's Gramps for you."

"Is this place bigger than Capsule Corp?" Valerie asked, gulping as Pan rang the doorbell.

"No way." Bra quickly dismissed as a butler came to the door and talked to Pan.

"..But they have butlers..." Valerie insisted, still awed. Bra turned her head to glare at her.

"Yeah, well we have hundreds of robots!" She argued back. "And we had live staff and a secretary at home back when Grandpa was alive but due to security reasons, mom decided to keep live staff only at CC Headquarters." Valerie nodded in acknowledgement, it made sense.

"Come-on already." Pan signaled for them follow after her. Valerie was unable to hold in a gasp of astonishment at large and luxurious foyer before her.

"Mr. Satan is currently finishing up his daily massage out back if you'll all follow me." The butler explained.

"That's excellent!" Bra said excitedly. "I'm going to go get changed into my bathing suit and I can lounge in the back while you two talk to him." Pan nodded in agreement.

"Actually," Valerie started hesitantly as they started to move. "If it's okay with you two, I'd like to just explore the grounds first and I can make my way back to where you guys are." Bra just smiled and Pan gave her a wink and a thumbs up.

"Do it." Pan said easily. "Gramps won't mind." She assured as she gave her one final wave and showed Bra to a bathroom nearby while Giru went to go look for food now that his mission of accompanying the girls here safely was completed.

Valerie grinned as she looked around the heavily decorated foyer, she had to give it to the old hairy man, he sure had good taste in decorations. There were expensive vases as well as pictures and portraits everywhere you looked with lush rugs and beautiful plants. She realized very quickly that there was a very good chance that she would be getting lost here but that was half the adventure, wasn't it?

"Dude, he has a map!" She exclaimed with amusement as she ran forward to see the large map of the estate. She trailed the map with her finger, pointing to the large X that said "You are here." She studied the surrounding area seeing a lot of trophy rooms and relaxation rooms for the champ. "Kitchen... dining room one, dining room two..." She shook her head at how many rooms this guys house had. "Ooh..." A little separated from the main house was his dojo on this same property. "Cool." She mumbled.

Capsule Corp didn't have any weights or training rooms due to the fact that all the Saiyans really needed to train was robotic devices of Bulma's creation, gravity rooms and large open spaces that could take a beating. Mr. Satan, however, was a human being who trained like normal people did. Valerie smiled at that, maybe she could go to his dojo and throw a few punches on a punching bag or something, being around all these Saiyans definitely produced a lot of pointless urges to grow stronger. She made her way to that area and chuckled to herself with a smile, knowing that her training would be pointless since she would never come close to even Yamcha's power level... or who knew, maybe not even Hercule's.

She groaned with a shake of her head at that depressing thought. She hummed lightly to herself to keep herself busy as she wandered through the halls trying to make her way to this Dojo. Valerie sped up when she started to hear grunting noises and battle cries, knowing she had to be close now. She came to a stop in front of a large open arched doorway that led to what must be Hercule's School for fighters. She grinned as she came in seeing dozens of guys sparring, lifting weights, boxing, and chattering excitedly about the Champ coming to pay them a visit a little later.

She briefly wondered if she had to sign up somewhere or if she could start using the equipment; ultimately, she shrugged and pulled up her sleeves as she decided to go a few rounds with the punching bag. She let out all of her frustration on the bag in the next fifteen minutes that she had built up since arriving on this planet. She really didn't realize she felt as much anger as she did until she started hitting more and more quickly.

Anger and frustration mainly over her home, over wondering if time was passing there faster or slower or the same, how long it had taken for her family to realize that she was missing, how her father was coping without her. Her eyebrows drew down as she hit the bag harder at the thought of going home; she felt selfish for loving this place as much as she did but it had been so easy and so natural to fall in love with these people. She had felt a deeper more meaningful attachment to them in the time that they had been here than from years of knowing people back home.

And then there was the guilt for wishing she could stay...

"I don't think any of these chumps will try to take us on, do you?" A male voice said a few feet behind Valerie rasped to another man beside him.

"It's not them I'm worried about, it's Mr. Satan." Valerie's ears perked up and her punches slowed down to hear the conversation more easily.

"Nah, don't worry about him, chum, he's getting all prettified and massaged for his next television, that old coot won't be in his house for the next hour, ya dig?" She shifted carefully to the left to see them as best she could through her peripheral as she continued to half heartedly punch at the bag now.

"What about his star Pupil, Buu?" The other asked.

"Listen, Bert, we can go back and forth all day about all the people who can and can't be inside but the situation is like this." The first guy, a dark shaggy haired guy wearing brown gi pants and a white loose t-shirt tucked into his pants explained to his partner; a pale blonde man with brown worried eyes. "Hercule is busy, his students are currently training, his granddaughter and daughter are in West City for vacation with Capsule Corporation and Buu is distracted. This is the best shot we're going to get, see?" Bert nodded his agreement.

"You're right Ern. Let's do this." Bert said with more excitement as he left the bench that he'd been pretending to bench press on.

"Good. Now follow ma lead." Ern urged, attempting to casually move towards the exit with Bert whistling obnoxiously, his arms waving back and forth too dramatically as he walked. "Casual!" Ern hissed at his partner, elbowing him in the ribs as the two stood laughing nervously at the doorway. "Man... that is one, tough, workout we just had there, yes sir." Ern said loudly, over exaggerating a wipe at his brow to get rid of the sweat. "I. Am. Beat." He exhaled.

"Oh brother..." Valerie rolled her eyes as she grabbed a nearby towel off a rack, wiped off some sweat and made her way to the door to follow.

...

"So what do you think?" Bulma asked Josie, as she helped the younger girl place the scouter on Josie's face and pushed a button on the side for her. Josie nodded as she herself toyed with the main controls as the little screen on her left eye came to life.

"I think it's working." She grinned as the tiny machine bleeped and signaled the largest power. "This is so cool. This even says it's Goku..." She shook her head in amazement. "You outdid yourself, Bulma." Bulma grinned back in response to the compliment.

"Thank you." She bowed her head slightly. "You would think this would be enough to get the guys to consider taking me along again, wouldn't you?" Bulma laughed. Josie stopped her exploration of the device and looked at the older woman with curiosity.

"They really don't take you on any of these adventures anymore, do they?" Bulma shook her head.

"Not really." She said quietly. "I understand. These bad guys they've been fighting the last dozen years have gradually become more and more dangerous and ever since I married Vegeta..." She smiled. "He won't let me anywhere it unless I have to be there." Josie nodded in understanding and began to toy with the machine again, pressing once more as the screen indicated Vegeta's current power level and his location.

"What do you say we test out the Dragon Ball radar on this thing?" Josie asked rhetorically as she pressed a button above the earpiece that lit up a blue indicator on the screen that displayed the location of the nearest ball.

"How does it read?" Bulma asked, smiling, knowing already that the machine had to be flawless. Adding those modifications to the machine had not been difficult at all, it was miniaturizing the technology that had proved a little difficult.

"It's perfect." Josie summarized, nodding and raising her hand to accept Bulma's high five.

"...What do you say we break the rules a little bit and take this to the boys?" Bulma suggested, deviously. Josie's eyes widen and her head tilted as she stared at the older woman trying to figure out whether she was just teasing her. Bulma shrugged as she stood up and made her way to a counter nearby. They were in the medical wing, this was where Bulma had been keeping some of her trinkets that she was working on since none of the Saiyans really ventured in here. She pulled out a capsule from a drawer and placed it in her pants pocket, giving it a slight pat once it was secured inside.

"I don't like ignoring their requests but they're all out there right now and from what I can see here." Bulma indicated towards her own left eye, nodding towards the machine on Josie's face. "It looks like they're power levels have not gone up, meaning they are not fighting anything and are perfectly approachable right now." Josie nodded in agreement, unable to keep a large smile off her lips, knowing that whatever rationality Bulma was using to make this little expedition she was proposing okay did not ultimately matter because the boys would be very angry.

"They'll be grateful once they get this radar." Bulma insisted, smiling as she almost read what Josie's thoughts were. "Now let's go before I change my mind." She laughed nervously. Josie saluted her and got up, handing the scouter to Bulma as she went to go get the essentials case that Bulma insisted she never leave the ship without. They met outside the ship where Bulma set up a hover bike and currently sat atop it, warming up the engine and looking inside her side satchel to make sure she had everything they needed. She glanced behind when Josie approached her and gave her a warm smile.

"Ready?" She asked, grinning. Josie skipped over to her, her stomach a mess of flutters as she sat on the back of the bike and grabbed onto the sides. "Here" Josie tilted her head as Bulma turned her body and as best she could and put a wrist gun on Josie whose eyes widened. Bulma turned Josie's wrists, securing the device as it carelessly pointed at Bulma's chest. Josie tugged at her arm a little, intending to turn the head of it away but Bulma tightened her hold.

"Be careful." Bulma said seriously. "Try not to move and for Kami's sake, do not make a fist." Josie looked at her hand with confusion.

"Why not?"

"Your fist is the trigger, if you close it, it'll shoot." Josie's eyes widened and she fought the instinct to pull her hand back, afraid that she may inadvertently close it.

"B-Bulma!" Josie shouted. "Why the hell would you let me wear this?"

"I want you to be safe." Bulma mumbled quietly as she finished the last strap. "There." She sat up straighter with a smile, her look of intense concentration disappearing entirely. "I take your safety very seriously while you're under my care, Josie."

"I get that Bulma, I do and I'm grateful, but as the kid that you see me as, I don't know if this is very safe.." Josie mumbled.

"And you think this expedition is?" Bulma asked, left eyebrow raised elegantly. Josie laughed, nodding, having to concede to her point. "Thank you, this is great- terrifying." She gulped. "But great. Let's just... keep my arm far from you." Bulma laughed as she faced forward and revved the engine. "I don't even want to think about what Vegeta would do to me if something happened to you." Josie shuddered at the thought and she held Bulma's midsection with her left hand, bracing her legs to stay on, refusing to close her right hand out of fear of firing. "This thing is impressive but... a button instead of a natural body reaction would be great right now." Josie laughed nervously.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure I thought that through when I built it.." Bulma admitted, smiling, her eyes twinkling as she studied the horizon. "You ready to do this?" Receiving a holler of excitement as a response, Bulma hit the pedal and made the vehicle fly off into the sky in the direction of Goku.

...

Valerie ran after the guys, making sure to keep her distance, occasionally having to hide behind a pillar as they looked for an open door into the mansion. The Dojo, though on the same grounds, as Mr. Hercule's home, was not attached to the building; a student or the champ himself having to go through the garden or the separate entrance for his school.

Valerie knew exactly which entrance they would likely find open since she herself had gone through there not an hour ago. She hesitated as they disappeared around a corner, debating as to whether she should tell the others or follow after them. Growling in annoyance she turned back and ran towards the backyard, not going more than fifteen feet before she ran straight into Bra who stumbled back, frowning.

"Val!" She scolded, in irritation, wiping at her bikini. Valerie brows lifted as she noticed the two piece the young girl was wearing; a two piece blue bikini with pink flower prints on both pieces.

"Bra, you are WAY too young to be wearing that." Valerie shook her head, glancing behind her she unzipped her zip up sweater and forced it on the complaining Bra.

"Val, you're acting like my mom!" Bra whined as she zipped it up with a roll of her eyes.

"Shut up and come-on!" Valerie grabbed Bra's wrist and pulled the surprised girl with her towards where the men had disappeared.

"What are we doing- Val WHERE are we goi-" She was shushed harshly by Valerie who slowed as they turned a corner and entered the mansion going though the corridors and cutting across heavily decorated rooms following faint voices. When they got closer, Valerie turned to Bra once more, ducking a bit and signaling for her to do the same. Bra looked very confused as she started to hear the awkward duo who whispered loudly amongst themselves, thunking one another in the head for stupid suggestions.

"I'm telling you there's nothing good down here, we need to go up the stairs." Ern argued earnest, attempting to keep his voice down but failing miserably in the echoing halls.

"What was that?' Bert asked, eyes wide as he looked behind him, panicked. Ern followed his line of sight, surveying the surrounding area, not seeing anything but a few tall plants and a dresser or two.

"You knucklehead." Ern insulted, annoyed, as he thunked his partner once more. "You've got to keep your head!" Bert rubbed his head vigorously.

"Well I'm going to loose it if you keep hitting me!" He scolded loudly, getting shushed and hit once more. Bra looked over at Valerie, arching a brow.

The two men moved down the hallway, attempting to find the staircase and Bra put out a hand to stop Valerie from following and stood up, tired of this lame game of detective.

"They're trying to steal?" Bra asked, arms crossing, looking completely uninterested and unintentionally resembling her father strongly, if it weren't for the sleeves that were way too long for the pre-teen that made the expression look a little comical.

"Yes." Val whispered, looking around the hall to make sure the men were not noticing them.

"...You brought me over so we can stop them, didn't you?" Receiving a nod, Bra shook her head and gave a shrug. "Fine, but you're sunbathing with me when we're done." Bra glared at Valerie when she saw her opening her mouth to argue. "No butts. It's the only reason I agreed to come over. My family didn't put a lot into our pool but Mr. Satan has an awesome back yard and fantastic servants. You're sunbathing with me and that's the end of it." Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Fine!" She hissed. "Can we please just stop the bad guys, please?" Bra nodded, satisfied and crouched a little starting to run down the next hall, able to easily sense where they were at. Valerie followed with a little more paranoia, looking around incase they got caught. Bra quietly led them up the stairs and turned left, quietly passing gold hand railings that overlooked the grand foyer, stopping at the first door. She shook her head, snickering.

"They're on the wrong side of the building. Hercule keeps his money on the other end, what losers." Valerie shushed her, annoyed. Her eyes widened when she saw Bra reach for the door and almost lost her balance attempting to reach forward to stop her but unable to do it before Bra lightly opened the door a fraction.

"..You sure this is where he keeps his money?" Ern asked his friend, scratching his head in the middle of the room as he looked around. Bert nodded, looking equally confused as he studied the wrinkled map of the property that he had in his hands. Ern came over and studied the map over his shoulder. Bra could see the guy's eye twitch and his lip curl in a snarl as he whacked the back of the man's head again. "YOU IDIOT, YOU HAD IT UPSIDE DOWN!" He screamed, tearing the map out of his hands and flipping it before putting it back in his hands.

It was Bert's turn to hush Ern, both men freezing when they heard a giggle. They turned towards the door and Ern studied the slightly cracked door with a frown on his face. "Did you leave the door open, Bert?" He asked, coldly. Bert simply shook his head. Valerie and Bra had quickly gotten out of view, looking at each other nervously as they heard no noise emit from the room anymore.

"..." Then they heard the un-mistake noise of a gun cocking and their eyes widened.

Before Valerie could register what was happening, Bra grabbed her arm and swung Valerie over the railing before going over herself keeping a tight hold of the older girl and grabbing the lowest edge of a gold bar, cringing as Valerie swung beneath her, grateful that Valerie hadn't screamed yet. From what Bra could see, neither of the goons would be unable to see her as long as they didn't look over the railing, if they did that, they were quite possibly screwed. It wasn't herself that she was worried about, she glanced down at Valerie who tightly held onto her arm with both of her hands, glancing down every few seconds, looking up at her in fear - she had yet to fall from a tall second story floor and she didn't want to experience that here today.

"See anything, Ern?" Bert asked quietly from behind Ern who stood at the door, pistol held up, agitation on his face as he looked around the empty hallways.

"..No." He finally answered, beginning to feel more and more frustrated. The plan here had not gone at all the way he had wanted it too, his partner was an idiot, they were being way too loud, they were on the wrong side of the house and they were hearing noises.

"Maybe we should get out of here, Ern." Ern shook his head, angrily.

"No, we're not leaving till we get what we came for. Now shut your pie hole and follow me." Ern glanced more to the left corridor and feeling assured no one was around he moved to the right, passing the dangling girls without seeing them as he moved forward to the correct part of the house. This time, Bra made sure to give them enough of a head start and looked down once more.

"Ready?"

"To stop hanging from a dangerously bone breaking height? oh totally dude." Valerie nervously assured. Bra nodded, pulling herself up a bit to get one last look down the hallway and pulling Valerie up with one arm enough so that she held onto the bars herself; able to let go, Bra quickly pulled herself up and helped Valerie up as well before starting to move down the hallway.

Valerie immediately noticed Bra's serious mood and quietly followed, wondering vaguely if she should go get Pan so Bra wouldn't have just her as back-up, knowing realistically that she wouldn't be much help to Bra if she got shot. Bra didn't stop to think of any of this though, too focused on where these men were at. They left the double doors wide open this time though as they worked on getting into Hercule's safe.

"Uncapsulize our bag, I think I have something that'll open this right up for us." Ern demanded, smiling as he stood back up, studying the safe. Bert nodded reaching into his pocket and throwing out a capsule that quickly poofed forth a duffel bag, open and filled to the brim with explosives. Bra took a step back and forced Valerie to do the same.

"Go back and tell Hercule and Pan. They've got enough to cause some damage to this building." Bra whispered, frowning "Everyone needs to go. We're close to Hercule's Dojo here." Valerie nodded and attempted to run as quietly as possible. She headed down the grand staircase and saw a butler holding a stray cat that had managed to get inside the house and was about to throw it out as she flagged him down.

"Yo!" She ran to him and pointed to the backyard. "Go tell Hercule and his granddaughter that there is an intruder in their house on the second floor. Everyone needs to leave the perimeter, it's too dan-" A small explosion rocked the house a little and Valerie's eyes widened. "GO!" She shouted, grabbing the cat quickly from his hands and running up the stairs as fast as her legs could take her. She saw the smoke billowing out of the double doors and ran ahead without a thought.

The first thing she was able to make it through the smoke was one of the men hanging on the chandelier, his clothes singed, the wall behind the safe was almost entirely gone - sunlight streaming through the large hole and Bra was grimacing as she got up from the far corner of the room.

"Bra!" Valerie shouted, concerned. Bra shook her head quickly, coughing as she signaled frantically for Valerie to leave the room. Before she could ask what was wrong she saw the first man, Ern getting up from behind Hercule's metal desk where he had thrown himself behind when the explosion occurred. She could see how enraged he was as he started to point his shaking gun towards Bra, chest heaving.

Without thinking, Valerie threw the cat at the man's face with all her strength making him cry out in surprise. Valerie dropped to the ground as she heard a shot go off and in seconds felt the press of something soft and a bit cold to her body lift her upward. She glanced up, fearfully and noticed Bra's was right beside her, giving her a rueful grin, her face a little scratched up.

Valerie looked up and realized Majin Buu was taking them out of the room, calmly humming and walking down the hallway as Pan and Hercule ran by them and into the room shouting at the top of their lungs, their fisted hands pumping at the air in anger. Buu ignored the ruckus and took them down the stairs and out the front door where he set them down on the grass, leaving them to go shoo the crowd forming 20 feet away at Mr. Satan's gate.

Valerie studied Bra, still kneeling on the ground, making sure that the younger girl was okay. Bra seemed to be doing the same thing, looking down at herself critically for any damage, she frowned when she sat her nails and unzipped the jacket, grinning when she noticed her bathing suit was just fine.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your jacket." Bra grinned cheekily at Valerie, offering a peace sign at her almost now black sweater. Valerie rolled her eyes, smiling.

"I wouldn't signal victory yet, you haven't looked at your hair yet." She was almost tempted to take back what she said at the look of sheer terror on the young teen's face who scrambled up and ran inside the house to look for a bathroom. Pan carefully flew out of the large hole of her Grandpa's study and shook her head as she surveyed the damage, smiling, as she floated down to Valerie, still able to hear her gramps giving the bad guys an earful.

"You okay, Val?" Pan asked, arms crossed and a smile in place as she studied the girl.

"Oh I'm fine." Valerie said, dusting herself off and wiping the dirt off her face as she stood up, glancing over at the same time as Pan when they heard the panicked robotic voice of Giru flying towards them at top speed.

"PAN! PAN!" He stopped abruptly in front of them. "Are you okay?" He asked his best friend with worry as he looked her over. Pan grinned and tickled him underneath his chin.

"I'm fine, Giru." She said light heartedly. "But I can't say the same for the bad guys... Gramps is laying into them, including the one that's knocked out!" Pan laughed.

"Nobody was hurt though?" Valerie asked, smiling in relief, ignoring the sounds of sirens quickly approaching the building.

"Nah. A bag of explosives was thrown out of the room, I'm assuming by Bra, to prevent a bigger explosion, maybe they managed to get one and that went off?" Pan shrugged, unable to fully explain what happened in there. "But whatever it was that happened killed a poor kitty." Valerie's eyes widened in horror.

"The cat is dead?" She asked, gulping as all color drained from her face.

"Yup." Pan confirmed, sighing. "Poor little thing never stood a chance."

"...I'm a cat killer." She muttered, pouting as she sat down on the ground and laid down with her arms thrown out as she stared at the blue sky above, unhappily. "I'm a horrible, monstrous, terrible cat killer person..." Valerie shook her head in disbelief. "This must be what being a Villains feel like..."

Pan and Giru sweat dropped looking at each other, confused.

* * *

**Note:** A HUGE thank you to the four FANTASTIC reviews I got on this last chapter: **ImmatureChild, Biiigfan, Thomas Drovin, and Maniikuu!** It's been a while since I had four reviews and they all made me smile. I think I received two of them in class and I was just giddy for the rest of the day. This chapter was definitely a lot easier to write after getting out all that built up confusion/frustration out of my system

**PS.** I promise I'm not a cat killer, nor do I condone any sort of violence towards animals, I totally forgot to mention that earlier. I swear I have NO idea how that ended up happening but I hope I didn't offend anybody. The death was quick and no details were given? I'm hoping that makes up for it X)

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter! Review and subscribe! Thank you


	23. Chapter 23: The girls Rule Today

**Disclaimer**: I do not own DB/Z/GT... for now.

**Dude Where's my World?**

Revised

**Chapter 23**: The girls rule Today

"Josie!" Bulma scolded as the motor bike rocked once more due to her accidentally closing her fist, the blast emitting from the weapon hitting a nearby tree.

"I'm sorry!" Josie shouted, waving her hands in frustration. "It's not my fault my body feels the need to occasionally close my hand!" Josie sighed, not receiving a response. She looked over her shoulder at the tree that was still waving erratically. "It didn't make a hole." Josie noted out loud, in wonder. "What is this, Bulma? an angry blow dryer?" Curious she turned the wrist gun's barrel towards herself to study the design. Bulma caught sight of it in her wing mirror and her eyes widened.

"JOSIE WHAT ARE YOU DOIN-" She held on tightly and grimaced as Josie coughed and sputtered out a squeal as the bike flipped in the air violently and finally settled a minute later, both girls panting for breath and looking forward, wide eyed.

Josie gulped, blinking at Bulma's back, throat burning.

"..." Bulma took a few more steadying breaths and with eyes narrowed she looked over her shoulder at Josie. "... What have we learned?"

"We..." Josie groaned, as she held her head with her available hand. "Have learned that you are not a very good driver."

"JOSIE!"

"I'm just kidding!" Josie quickly said, hands up, a sheepish smile on her face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Bulma rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face as she faced in the direction that they were heading and pressed the button of the scouter she was now wearing. "What's it say?" Josie asked, leaning forward, curiously.

"It says... that we're getting no where fast at this rate," Bulma said with a shake of her head. "We need to push the pedal to the metal if we're ever going to catch up to those guys, kid. Can I count on you to control that hand of yours if we speed up?"

"Psh!" Josie waved her hand carelessly, closing it just enough to set it off while it pointed skyward, immediately thrusting the girls and the vehicle down, making them scream and hold onto each other.

"SORRY!" Josie immediately pointed it down and closed her hand to shoot them upward but just like an elevator out of control, it thrust them upward with a lot more force than Josie intended.

"J-"

"I know, I know - JOSIE!" Josie shouted at herself for Bulma, groaning as she leaned her head heavily on Bulma's back."Can I get off this ride?" She whined. Bulma sighed looking at he wrist watch.

They had managed to get almost a hundred miles away from their campsite before Josie's gun started to accidentally go off more and more and now they'd been in the same stretch of land trying to move mere feet forward in the last ten minutes with very little success.

"Yeah I think this is as far as that's gun taking us today." Bulma agreed, scanning the small islands for a good place to land and remove the device from Josie's wrist.

"It's a good idea, in theory." Josie bit her lip, feeling embarrassed. "But it's attached to a NORMAL body function of mine. I can't help it if I'm an very animated speaker." Bulma chuckled, shaking her head, knowing that the girl really needed no derision from her, she was clearly embarrassed enough as it was. Bulma smiled, having spotted somewhere for them to land in the middle of a small dirt covered canyon. Josie kept very still as they descended, adamant to not cause Bulma anymore strife. "You think they found anything?" Josie asked when the vehicle finally touched down on the ground, grinning happily, jumping off of it and going right to work on attempting to undo the wrist strap keeping her attached to the gun.

Bulma still remained on the motor bike and dutifully checked the radar again; after a few seconds of taking in the numbers, she shook her head, looking a bit unsure. "Unlikely..." Her brows drew down as she clicked on the scouter again.

"A little help would not go amiss right now, Bulma.." Josie grunted, hopping on one foot as she tried to keep her hand straight and take off the machine, whacking it with the heel of her other, eagerly holding it out for Bulma to help.

Bulma turned her head in Josie's direction, frowning, startling Josie into taking her hand back. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to point it at..." Josie let her sentence drift as she noticed that Bulma's frown wasn't directed at her, but past her. Josie turned around and saw nothing but the rest of the dirt canyon before ground gave way to water again. "Bulma?" Josie asked turning back to her, confused.

"...I think there's a Dragon Ball here." Bulma explained quietly as she slowly got off of her bike and made her way to the younger girl Josie's eyes widened, surprised at the revelation and she turned back towards the land that she had just overlooked a minute ago.

"Where?" Josie asked, eyes scanning the area for any sign. Bulma shook her head, stepping past her and moving forward till the ground started to slant downward towards the water and stopped, eyes narrowed as she scanned the ground for any sign of recently disturbed dirt. She tilted her head, thoughtfully, as she focused her sight on a rock beside the water's edge where the ground seemed to be piled a little high.

"Right there." Bulma finally said, pointing at it. Josie came up beside her and squinted her eyes at it; before Josie could move for it Bulma stopped her by taking hold of her wrist and turned up the weapon's ability to damage. She'd designed the weapon on the ship and had originally intended Josie to be it's user and knowing the girl she had decided to monitor it's Josie turned the weapon to inspect whatever Bulma had just done but seeing nothing different she moved forward two steps and lazily kicked at the sand beneath the green water, absently scratching her head.

"If it's in there it's deep." Josie noted. Bulma nodded in agreement from behind her and before she could make any suggestion as to how to scavenge the area, Josie gave a small shrug and shot her weapon at it, almost falling back on Bulma when the kickback made her loose her footing. "Whoa." Josie mumbled, impressed at the weapons power,"Good job on this, Bulma." She complimented, impressed.

Bulma shook her head, brows narrowed. "I don't know if you should-" Josie grinned like a cheshire cat, barely hearing Bulma, eyes focused on the tiny spot of orange making itself visible at the small hole that the gun had made as water began to pool in it. "-Further in-" Josie shot again, giggling as the blast downward threw her lightly a few feet in the air, making Bulma growl.

"JOSIE!" She scolded. Josie braced her legs on the ground when she landed and using her other hand to keep it aimed, she fired one final time, a gasp escaping her lips as the three star orange Dragon Ball shone in the Namekian sunlight, now half out of it's sand filled grave.

"Huh." Bulma huffed from behind Josie, surprised that the careless blasts had worked.

"Oh wow...Bulma look" Josie said breathlessly, eyes wide as she slowly sat down on the wet ground and picked it up, water lapping at her knees and thighs and disheveled hair blowing messily in the wind but not caring for one iota of an instant as she stared at the magic orb in amazement.

Bulma unwittingly smiled down at the silent girl with her arms crossed, remembering herself what it was like when she first took in the beauty of a Dragon Ball.

Josie licked her dry lips, grinning wordlessly at what she was holding. How she wished Val could see this. "It's beautiful." Josie mumbled, happily, testing it's weight in her hands and turning it in every direction, amazed at how it always shined. "Can I show Val later when we get to the ship?" Josie asked hopeful, turning to show Bulma who laughed.

"Of course." She said kindly, reaching a hand to stroke the girl's hair but tensing when she saw something out on the water. Josie turned and saw a Namekian in the distance over the water flying directly towards them. Josie shot a confused look back at Bulma, not feeling comforted by the mirrored expression in the older woman's face.

"Did they...?" Josie didn't quite know what she was asking so she dropped the question and got up with the ball in hand and took a few automatic steps back with Bulma automatically doing the same. The closer he got the more they backed up until he finally landed at the waters edge, smiling at the two.

"Hello."

"Hi." Josie greeted quietly, an uneasy feeling creeping up her spine.

"I see you've found a Dragon Ball, Elder Moori will be very pleased." Josie nodded slowly, tightening her hold on the ball.

"..Yes. I'm sure he will be.."

"Please allow me to take that to him now, you've done more than enough today." He requested, with a smile that didn't touch his eyes. Josie studied him and could practically feel the deceit rolling off of him making her shake her her head in a no.

"That's nice of you to offer but no thanks, We'll make sure it gets to him safely." The Namek looked behind Josie to see who else he was referring too. The blue haired human, recognizing her.

Bulma realized the same thing he did at that moment"I know you." Bulma said. "I've seen you with Elder Moori." His smile widened.

"Yes. You have, I am one of his faithful sons, I'll ensure the ball's safe return." He attempted to assure, taking another step forward, both girls automatically taking one back.

"Look dude, with an unknown threat on the planet you can't blame us for being a little jumpy and untrusting." Josie explained, slowly twisting her body and very delicately setting it on the ground behind her, showing him all the meanwhile that she meant no funny business, putting her hands up, palms outstretched before her. "To be perfectly honest, I don't recognize you myself." She admitted. He frowned at that.

"I helped your clan serve food on the table..." He reminded, bothered, seeing as he had done it more than on one occasion and had been asked by her where the bathroom was just the day before and still, after that explanation the girl registered no recognition. "...You asked me where the facilities were yesterday?" Nothing. He sweat dropped, jaw clenching.

"I'm sorry dude... I realize I sound totally racist," She said cringing. "But you all kind of look a lot alike to me..." She mumbled, embarrassed, hands defensively moving in opposite directions to ward off his oncoming irritation. "It's just... you're all - t-there's no defining traits you all have except shades of darker greens, a few extra wrinkles that maybe others don't have, and when you're older, yellower eyes.

"If it weren't for the clothes I'm not honestly sure how I'd tell most of you apart.." She laughed nervously. "Except for that one guy with the mustache," She corrected, somewhat off on a tangent. "-but I honestly think that was just a flub because I don't think you guys can grow facial hair... can you?" Josie asked faster than the Namek could follow.

"...I...Give me the Dragon Ball." He finally demanded with a clenched fist, all pretenses of them being on the same side dropped, having obtained a headache from the last minute of attempting to follow this girl's train of thought. Josie's head tilted unconsciously, heart racing as she tried to remember what she could about Nameks; anything, information, weaknesses, traits.

She shook her head. "You're not a warrior." She pointed out nervously, hoping she was right. He bared his teeth, body tense and ready to attack. Josie shook her head insistently as she pointed her shaking hand at him in warning.

"Push the lever on the left side up." Bulma said seriously, noticing him coil up as well. If she thought she could get away with going back to the bike to get her own weapon without him charging, she would. Josie did as Bulma told her too, jumping a little when the Namek growled in warning. "Y-you're not a warrior." She insisted. "Your damn clothing gives you away. I feel like warrior type Nameks usually always wear clothes revealing their chest and tummies -except for one or two." She smiled at his silence, grateful that his confusion threw off his attack. She took this time to gently kick back the ball to Bulma who slowly crouched down to get it, smiling.

"...So I know that Moori didn't send you." Josie started conversationally, arm still out, attempting to keep his attention on her, her other hand playing casually with the whistle around her neck. "He's not letting his people out of his sight right now to keep them safe, he trusts our friends to figure out what's happening on your planet, meaning you left without his permission and you flew directly to this random spot where this Dragon Ball happened to be... kind of weird, if you ask me." She arched her brows, shrugging lightly.

"So who are you working for?" She asked. He shook his head, growling as he moved forward making Josie gasp.

"I don't have time for this, the Master is expecting me."

"Don't!" Josie shouted, whistle poised at her mouth. "I don't want to hurt you.." He smiled, baring his canines.

"I doubt you could." He said honestly and he was right. Whether he was a warrior or not, he still was likely stronger than she was and she didn't need a scouter to tell her that.

"W-what's your favorite color?" She asked, already a leg unconsciously stepping back, body tensing in preparation. He stopped, sweat dropping down his face as he glared at her, thrown for a loop once more by her question. "Green?" She offered. "I'd be so friggin surprised if you said blue - DAMN IT STOP!" She frantically shouted, stumbling back as he rushed them midway through her sentence. Josie quickly shoved the whistle in her mouth and blew hard on it.

His eyes widened and his mouth opened in a wordless scream as he dropped to his knees. She took a step closer to him and fired the gun straight at his chest sending him quickly reeling through the air and into the water, dropping backward herself from the recoil.

She landed on the ground with a thud, breathing heavily, her eyes wide and a huge smile on her face, unable to believe that she'd just done that.

"I can't believe that just happened!" She shouted happily, free fist in the air. "Bulma did you- holy fudg..."Josie's mouth dropped opened as the Namek flew straight up and out of the water, floating in the air, growling, his antenna's beginning to glow. Josie's eyes widened as she scrambled backwards before pushing herself off the ground and towards Bulma in a desperate sprint.

"PLAN B, PLAN B!" Josie shouted as she ran past Bulma who ran after her, screaming having absolutely no idea what the hell Plan B could be. The two girls jumped comically as the Namek fired blasts after them, constantly missing them by a few inches. As they neared the motor bike, Josie turned and fired blindly in the direction of their enemy as Bulma started up the bike. He was hit by one more blast that threw him far back but began to duck the ensuing ones.

Josie put her whistle shakily in her mouth and repeatedly blew as loud as she could making him roar in pain. Bulma glanced at him before shouting at Josie to get on, handing her the sweater covered dragon ball before she took off with Josie still firing blasts at him and blowing her whistle every few seconds like her life depended on it.

"IS HE FOLLOWING US?" Bulma shouted, not daring to look back as she continued to push the vehicle to it's limits. Josie weakly blew on the whistle and shook her head, feeling light headed from the lack of oxygen as she leaned her head on Bulma's back, tired. "You okay back there, kiddo?" Bulma asked with some concern, feeling a tiny nod and an even weaker tiny whistle. Bulma smiled, chuckling as she sped up even more. "You did good sweetheart, don't worry, we're almost home." She assured lovingly, patting Josie's little hand around her waist.

True to her word Bulma made short work of their trip back to the ship where Trunks waited outside.

"GUYS, THEY'RE HERE!" He shouted quickly towards the ship before flying up to meet them and landed beside them, worry written all over his face. Bulma looked at him tiredly with a smile, removing the scouter from her face and putting it in her outfits pocket as she exhaled, relieved to be back. She patted her son's hand comfortingly as he stared at her with questions written all over his face.

"Trunks, do me a favor and grab Josie, I think she's out." Trunks immediately complied, gently moving Josie's head from Bulma's back to his shoulder and lifting her up bridal style. Upon feeling the warm and change in pressure, Josie immediately gasped, startled awake and blew on the whistle still in her mouth weakly, struggling to get out of her captors grasp.

"Whoa there, hey, hey, filly, it's me." Trunks laughed lightly, attempting to soothe her. Her eyes looked around, confused before realizing who was holding her.

"...Did you just call me a horse?" She asked with annoyance, relaxing. Just as quickly as she had settled down she began to struggle again, gasping, her eyes wide as she desperately looked around. "Your mom-BULMA-"

"Hey, I'm here, it's okay, honey." Bulma assured, already out of her seat and by Josie's side, gently easing the gun off her wrist. Josie allowed her to do so, heart beat racing as she looked over Bulma to make sure everything was okay. Bulma met her eyes, looking tired but very happy, she winked giving Josie a thumbs up.

She finally went lax in Trunks arms and grinned up at him.

"Oh we freaken did it.." She laughed deliriously, arms and legs kicking happily. "We did it."

...

_on earth: _

"Mr. Hercule please!" A reported desperately called amongst a swarming frenzy of the press.

"CHAMP!" Another called, jumping up and down in a desperate attempt to get his attention.

After the attempted robbery had occurred in the Hercule Manor, the media poured out by the dozens to the Champs gate, attempting to get an interview with the world's savior about what happened. After his publicist recommended he give a brief statement, he made his way to the front of his estate where his gate was barely managing to keep the crowds of reporters at bay.

"What happened here today, Mr. Satan?" Another reporter asked. Hercule's eyes narrowed in on his and he grinned, cockily, wagging his index finger.

"What happened was that two amateurs decided to mess with the bull and as you can see," He said, gesturing to the large hole in his home. "They got the horns, HAHA -OOH YEAH!" He shouted as the cameras flashed in quicker succession. Bra, Pan and Valerie watched the show, twenty feet back as they sat on his front steps looking bored and miserable as they waited for Videl to pick them up.

"Oh man." Valerie cringed as she watched Hercule make a fool of himself in front of the paparazzi. "This is even more painful to watch in person..." Bra laughed in agreement and Pan just sighed, embarrassed, refusing to comment as Giru scratched his head.

"Mr. Hercule, are you saying you singlehandedly caught the burglars and brought them down?" Another reported asked, eyes shining with admiration. Hercule quickly glanced behind him to study the group of Pan's friends she'd brought over, noticing that it was just one of the Briefs kids and a friend of theirs he didn't know. He grinned as he turned back, figuring they wouldn't care if he took the credit.

"You're damn right that's what I'm saying, aren't you listening, reporter guy? I AM THE BEST!" He threw his fists up in the air to another round of applause and loud chatter from the crowds gathering outside his home.

"But sir!" Another attempted to speak amongst the overpowering chants for the hero. "SIR! Mr. hercule," He smiled, relieved, when he noticed he finally had the champions attention. "W-what about reports that dynamite was what caused that explosion in your upstairs study?" He asked sheepishly, as he pushed up his glasses back comfortably on his face.

"GR-HOW DARE YOU, YOU WORM!" Hercule shouted, teeth almost sharpening as he shouted down at the smaller man. "I SAVED THE WORLD- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"Oh brother.." Bra rolled her eyes, shaking her head as they had to witness the small man apologizing reverently over and over to the savior of the world. Hercule eventually seemed to have enough of the man's groveling and waved it off.

"Forget about it, little man. I'll chalk it up to ignorance but know this," Hercule stated confidently, fists on his hips. "When you go against the Champion of the world's and his powerful **Satan Punch**, you'll leave in a stretcher -AHAHA!" He finished his commentary with his signature Peace sign pose, not noticing his daughter fly into the compound a few feet away.

Videl immediately saw the bored looking girls all sitting together on the porch; Bra with her arms behind her supporting her upper body, Pan miserably leaning her chin on her fists and Valerie keeping her chin on her forearms that rested on her bended knees. Videl grinned, a loud sigh of relief escaping her as she rushed to them.

"Are you girls alright?" She asked, looking them over once more to be sure. She had just managed to convince Chichi that she had managed the girls just fine before she'd arrived and had caught the news story breaking on the television. Chichi had, of course, thrown a fit and had nearly taken off out of the house but Videl had calmed her down and assured her that she'd go make sure the girls were okay and bring them home.

"What happened!" She demanded, her anger catching up with her now that she was sure that they were safe and well. Having sensed Videl coming, Giru had hid behind Pan and came out hesitantly, the older woman's eyes narrowing on him.

Pan sighed. "Burglars broke into Gramps house but everything is fine." Videl nodded, glancing at her father who was still laughing as he waved goodbye to his fans.

"Oh Videl!" Hercule's eyes lightened with genuine excitement at seeing his daughter. He jogged over to her and gave her a tight hug. "How is my little girl?" Videl wrinkled her face, displeased with the tightness of the hug but allowed it for a few more seconds before pulling away.

"Daddy, what the heck! I let Pan come over and your house is half destroyed." Hercule smiled down at his granddaughter and rubbed her head lovingly.

"It wasn't their fault." He assured easily. "I'm always happy to have my little Pan come over."

"I'm just glad no one got hurt." Videl sighed. Valerie let her head drop to the side onto her arm, her cheek now resting on her forearm, giving a very loud and over exaggerated sigh as she stared into the distance, pouting. Videl arched a brow, worried at the girl's pained countenance; Bra looked over at Valerie immediately recognizing the expression and groaned, punching Valerie in the arm.

"THAT'S ENOUGH ABOUT THE DAMN CAT." Bra growled in warning, hearing Pan echo an agreement. Videl shook her head, not even wanting to ask what they were talking about, she signaled for them to get up.

"Let's go girls, Chichi is going to kill me if I don't get home soon." She mumbled, turning back to her father with an embarrassed smile. "I really am sorry about the house, daddy." He waved it off, completely unfazed by it. The girls waved their goodbyes taking a few steps, Videl already having Bra in her arms ready to fly off.

"One second, Videl." Hercule requested making all the girls pause. "Hey Kid." He called, his gaze setting on Valerie, startling her. "Let me talk to you for a second." She scratched the top of her head, confused, as she followed him a few feet away, shooting a look at the others who shrugged in response.

"..Yes?" She asked.

"You helped Vegeta's daughter stop the intruders?" He asked, arms crossing.

"Well..." She hesitated. "I don't know if you can call what I did help. I threw a cat.." He shook his head.

"I saw the bag of dynamite." He disagreed. "If it wasn't for you two girls, it's likely that half of my home would have been destroyed and possibly some of my dojo hurting some innocent people inside. I owe you a thanks, kid." He insisted. "Do you want an autograph or something?" Valerie chuckled, uncomfortably.

"...Uh no thank you, sir." She attempted to say as kindly as possible. "...er, who I am kidding, sure, why not." She laughed, shrugging. He may not be the world hero the world here thought him out to be but he was still a DBZ character and she knew none of her favorite characters would likely ever offer her one before they went back home.

His eyes lit up at the acceptance and he nodded, snapping his fingers. A waiter came over with one already in hand. Hercule took it and quickly signed it, handing it to her.

"There you go, kid." Valerie scanned it briefly.

_To my biggest fan, thank you for all the support_

_From the World Champion,_

_Satan Hercule._

Valerie chuckled, "...Gee, thanks," Valerie thanked, sweat dropping.

"You're alright, kid." He nodded as he studied her wimpy frame. "You're not like the others, are you?" He asked. Valerie straightened up at that, nervously.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked, eyes wide. There was no way that even HE would be able to tell she wasn't from this world. He nodded.

"You're not like Goku or any of the other fighters." Her shoulders dropped at that reminder.

"Oh." She mumbled. "No," She admitted with a light shrug. "I'm probably the furthest thing from them there is." He nodded as he listened to her sorrowful confession, an idea generating itself in his head.

"...Listen kid, believe it or not, the Champ wasn't always the strongest man in the universe... I know what it's like to be the small guy." He nodded, frowning. "What do you say I give you a few free private lessons as a way to thank you for what you did here today, kid?" Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as she took a step back and immediately shook her head before she could stop herself.

"I mean...I couldn't possibly take up your time..." She cringed, hoping he'd take the bait.

"Nonsense!" He shouted, as some of his students started making their way towards them to head to the emergency exit on the other side of the estate since Firemen and police covered the area where the dojo was and the paparazzi was still lingering in the front of the house. "This opportunity only comes once in a lifetime kid." Hercule reminded.

"Did I just hear the Champ offer to tutor her one on one?" A student asked, eyes wide as he passed by, pointing a thumb back at them. The other with him nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, man." He replied nasally. "Ooh man what an opportunity." He stopped, shaking his head. "You're not going to say no, are you?" He asked in disbelief. Some others started to stop and murmured in agreement voicing their support.

Hearing Mr. Satan's supporters begin to start chanting as they surrounded them, Valerie could do nothing but cringe into herself as the world Champ stood before her awaiting an answer; hating what she was about to say with every fiber of her being, she swallowed with some difficulty and nodded.

"..I'll be your student." She choked out, wincing as she said the words out loud.

...

Trunks shook his head, still bothered by the impromptu field trip the girls had decided to take while they were gone. "Come-on, let's get you inside." He said, moving towards towards the ship where the others were coming out, followed by a relieved looking Elder Moori. Josie, still in Trunks arms, slapped his shoulder gently in request that he set her down. He made a face at her but finally set her down after a third whack.

Wordlessly, Josie went to Bulma looking the older woman up and down once more. Bulma laughed, rubbing Josie's arm.

"I'm alright, sweetheart."

"You sure?" Josie asked, smiling when she received a nod. Comforted Josie went to the bike, grabbing the round item as she followed Trunks and Bulma to the group of Z Fighters.

Vegeta stepped forward immediately to his wife and studied her quickly, arms crossed, frowning in displeasure at her. He didn't have to say anything for Bulma to know exactly what he meant to say and she gently ran her hand down his back in an apology, looking genuinely sorry.

His posture loosened a bit after that and Bulma hid a smile, knowing that she was forgiven for now.

"Where the heck were you guys?" Goku asked. Bulma and Josie shared a look, grins forming on their faces.

"I don't even know if you guys would believe me if I told you.." Bulma explained, her blue eyes sparkling as Josie happily revealed the Three Star Dragon Ball to the group of the galaxy's strongest men who now stood completely stupefied.

* * *

**Note:** You guys are WONDERFUL, thank you SO much for the reviews. The more you review, the earlier and more frequently I'll update so please keep REVIEWING! :)

**Thomas Drovin** - Thank you, as always, my friend. You're a fantastic reviewer to have and I appreciate the feedback. I'm currently editing the last chapter so that It's not such an abrupt and confusing beginning to the chapter. Thank you for always being honest!

**Maniikuu-** You most definitely helped me A LOT to get the ball rolling again. I'm glad you enjoyed the beginning and I'm surprised at how many adventures Val is having back on earth. The old version to this story didn't have NEARLY this many shenanigans occuring back on the planet. I love it! I'm having a lot of fun with Val these last few chapters X)

**ImmatureChild**- This is what I love to hear, thank you so much for telling me what you like, whenever I read stuff like this I try as hard as I can to include more of it. Thank you so much! I love both girls very much so I try hard to keep them both progressing as individuals and friends! thank you for noticing!

**Clayton **- Completely forgiven, I just appreciate you taking the time to do it now. I hope you stick around :)

**LycosTamer**: I'm glad you're still laughing! I have to constantly battle with myself to make sure there's still a few chuckles in there and I feel like a nerd when occasionally the girls make me laugh when they do something and I wonder if I'm the only one laughing lol


	24. Chapter 24: The youngest Son

Disclaimer: I do not own db/z/gt but I do own something amazing! look at the bottom note when you finish reading if you're interested in seeing what amazing thing I now own ;)

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 24**: The youngest Son

"So..." Gohan shook his head as he took off his glasses and rubbed the area between his eyes, attempting to get rid of the headache that lay right underneath the surface. "Let me get this straight," He sighed as he placed his glasses back on his face and focused his attention back on Bulma and Josie.

After the initial shock and anger of finding out the girls had retrieved a Dragon Ball that had been missing, questions had fired left and right from all the men and now they sat inside Elder Moori's home in a simple sitting space, in what must have been his living room, the white room having a few windows to let all natural light in with simple white tiles and couches.

"You were bringing an updated scouter to us, which can now track Dragon Balls as well-"

"Which, side-note, is a really friggin cool idea, mom." Trunks interjected for a minute, impressed by his mother's work. Her mother beamed at him.

"Thank you, son." She nodded, happily.

"You were found by a Namek who attempted to take the Dragon Ball." Piccolo added, arms crossed as he stood in the background, frowning as he recalled the key points of the story Bulma and Josie had told them.

"Bulma nodded. "... I think you called him Kuji." Bulma stated.

"Kuji!" Goten perked up. "The guy who's constantly bringing food. Purple gi pants and a a white shirt," Goten recalled, smiling. "A bit quiet but nice." Bulma snapped her fingers, nodding vigorously.

"Yes, that's him!" Bulma shouted. Elder Moori looked progressively more and more distressed, paling.

"Wasn't he the one who had to walk you to the bathroom because you kept getting lost?" Trunks asked Josie, amused. Josie threw her hands in the air in disbelief.

"How do you ALL remember him? I'm such a bad human being..." She mumbled, shaking her head.

"I don't understand. If there were great evil in him, I would have sensed it..." Elder Moori shook his head slowly, attempting to hold onto denial.

"He wasn't good today, I can tell you that much." Josie insisted.

"So this guy..." Gohan continued. "Attacks you, you guys escaped and came straight here?"

"That's it." Bulma agreed, nodding. "We figured as long as we got closed to base he would stop following, and luckily, he did - we didn't expect you guys to be back so quickly. No luck on your end?" Vegeta shook his head, annoyance flashing on his features.

"Nothing." He answered, clearly unhappy with their own results. "No traces of Ki anywhere the Nameks didn't already tell us about."

"So we may be fighting against some Nameks?" Goten asked, for clarification, no one wanting to answer the question for fear of offending the Elder who looked more and more perturbed.

...

Videl had brought the girls home where they had to repeat the story of what happened for Chichi and after a while they all settled down and had dinner where Valerie's new part time training sessions came up; though Chichi didn't particularly think it was a great idea she commended Valerie for her willingness and promised her she'd create an outfit for her to train in.

"But Chichi..." Valerie whined, arms out uncomfortably as she stood in the middle of the living room with Chichi taking her measurements as the other girls watched from varying spots in amusement. "Do I really have to do this?" She asked, miserably.

Chichi nodded seriously as she took Valerie's bust seam, blinking in surprise at the measurement. "..YES!" She added firmly, remembering what they were arguing about. "Now you made a commitment, young lady and you're going to have to see it through. I won't have my Goten dating a liar." Valerie groaned.

"We only went on one date! He hasn't even asked me out since!" Chichi waved off the remark as unimportant.

"That's all my family needs to know if you're the one, before they get married." Valerie's eyes widened at that, knowing she wasn't ready to get married to anybody yet.

"But I'm sixteen!" Valerie cried out.

"I was eighteen!" Chichi countered. "Now hush and stop squirming, you're going to those training sessions that you committed too and that's that." Chichi said firmly. "We're going to finish your measurements and I'll make you something nice to wear for when you meet him tomorrow and you'll like it. Clear?" Valerie sighed, head dropping.

"Hai, Ma'am."

"Good girl." Chichi said happily, patting the girls shoulder.

...

"Sleeping here is such a pain in the butt." Josie mumbled. As the Z group had finished their conversation with Elder Moori in his home, they all went back to the ship to crash for the 'night', attempting to stay on a normal sleeping routine, despite the twenty four hour sunshine. Bulma had set up dark curtains on every window of the ship, having anticipated the problem before arrival.

"Talking to yourself again, I see." Trunks commented as he came out of the bathroom of his room where Josie was currently drawing down the curtains. She glanced at him from atop Goten's bed.

"Go away."

He arched a brow, "You're in my room." He reminded, smiling.

"Whatever." Josie said happily, jumping off the bed and nodding in satisfaction at the darkness that fell on the room and she turned on her flashlight. "See ya loser." She said easily, briefly pointing her flashlight at herself so he could see her sticking her tongue out childishly before turning around, ready to leave.

"I'm glad the most damage you got was muddy pants and really crusty hair." Trunks admitted before she left. She stopped at the doorway and smiled back at him, though he couldn't see it.

"Thanks Trunks." She said, smiling brightly.

"INCOMING!" Josie barely managed to turn towards the voice before she was tackled to the ground.

"oof!" She gasped, groaning as she lay on the ground with a grinning Goten on top of her. Trunks rolled his eyes as he heard the scrambling duo wrestling on the ground, assuming that it was Goten who was laughing childishly while Josie whacked him repeatedly with the flashlight. Trunks stepped forward, grabbing the flashlight out of Josie's hands and pointed it at the immature children on the ground.

"Are you two done?" Trunks asked, amused.

They both stopped their antics when the light beamed on them, Goten now, somehow, sitting on Josie's back while she drummed her fingers on the ground, impatiently. "Get your monkey off my back!" She demanded.

"Hey, I resent that." Goten stuck his tongue out as he got up off of her and held out a hand to help her up. She glared at him as she got herself up without his help, dusting her light pink t-shirt off. "You're supposed to prepare for surprise attacks, remember?" Goten reminded, grinning. Josie arched a brow knowing very well the two boys enjoyed antagonizing her and LOVED calling it training.

"Is that what that was?" She asked, nodding along, eyes narrowed as she approached the unsuspecting teenager.

"Ye-whoa!" Goten's eyes barely had time to widen before Josie jumped him, wrapping an arm around his neck rubbing her knuckles harshly on his scalp.

"Noogie!" She said through clenched teeth, tongue sticking out as she focused on digging her knuckles to attempt to hurt the demi saiyan who attempted to wrangle his way out of it, only succeeding in lifting her off the ground, still keeping his neck firmly attached to her hip. "Say uncle, scoundrel!" She demanded as she struggled to keep a hold of him. "I've battled Namek's and won - you pose no threat to-crap!" She cursed as she landed on Trunks bed a few seconds later as Trunks turned on the bathroom light and opened the door to allow light in.

Josie cringed at the light and glanced at Trunks, who stood by the door, fist on his hip.

"Are we ready to finally call Val?" He asked in a scolding like manner, not terribly amused by the playing around anymore.

"Josie rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous of my Namek beating swag."

"You blew a whistle and ran away, that hardly constitutes as defeating a Namek." Trunks replied, unable to help but grin at the look disappoint on her face as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of bed onto her feet, ignoring her complaints as he pushed her lightly out the door with Goten following. They made their way to the cockpit of the ship where the lights were dimmed and a tripod was set up with a camera by the controls; a projector screen pulled down in front of the ships curtain covered window.

"Sweet, your mom hooked us up." Josie said brightly as she skipped over to the Captains chair and made herself comfortable while Trunks turned on all the equipment. Josie tilted her head up on the cushioned seat, feeling someone behind her. Goten was leaning his arms on the back of her chair with his chin resting over them, a small smile on his face. "You excited to see your girlfriend?" Josie playfully teased, her tone hushed so Trunks wouldn't hear. Goten narrowed his eyes down at her upward smiling face.

She ducked as he moved to grab her, grinning.

"At least you're getting faster." Goten commented, laughing.

"Psh, that has nothing to do with you." Josie guffawed, "You think I can get away with all the stupid crap I say without having something to carry me away from the danger?" Josie asked rhetorically, patting her thighs, proudly. Goten shook his head smiling.

"OH!" Josie exclaimed, eyes wide as she sprang up. "I forgot the Dragon Ball - Val's gotta see it!" She quickly ran out of the room as Goten contentedly took her seat, humming happily, knowing how much it would annoy her to find him in her seat when she came back. Trunks watched his friend antics from the corner of his eye with mild displeasure as he continued to shift the camera; he did so for only a few more seconds before dropping his hands and the act, turning towards his best friend.

"Goten?"

"Yeah?" Goten asked, relaxed, as he smiled up at his friend. Trunks hesitated, already loosing his courage to ask, going back to his work in an attempt to look casual.

"...You're not interested in Josie at all, are you?" He asked as cooly as possible. Unable to see Goten anymore, he could only hear as Goten choked and coughed, turning as the slightly younger Saiyan thumped his own chest in attempt to clear his esophagus.

"What!" He squeaked, indignant. Trunks shrugged as he went back to adjusting the camera lens.

"Just asking... I mean you've gone out with Val and you're friendly with Josie-"

"Trunks! what are you thinking - No!" Goten shook his head severely, looking like he tasted a bad apple. "Don't get me wrong, Josie's great - loud." He shrugged a shoulder. "And really cute but no," He shook his head again, chuckling at the thought. "I definitely could never see her like that.

"Gee, and here I was hoping we'd work out." Josie said dryly, snapping her fingers with a smile on her face as she re-entered the room. The boys glance at her, Goten grinning.

"Where's the ball?" Trunks asked, confused. Josie's eyes widened.

"CRAP!" She cursed as she ran back out. When she left before she'd intended to go straight to the ball but had decided to grab a snack too but got caught up on what little food remained before she started to make her way back to the cockpit to ask Trunks where they were keeping their stock supply, having already completely forgotten the reason she had left in the first place.

Goten made sure she was gone before he turned his attention back to his best friend, smiling, noting that Trunks wouldn't look at him, messing with the camera that needed no fixing whatsoever.

"I think it's good to go, man." Goten assured, attempting not to sound like he was smiling. "It should just light up when Val receives the call." Trunks nodded, quietly going to sit on the seat a few feet beside Goten, ignoring the stare his friend was giving him.

"She should come on any minute now." Trunks said simply, looking at his wrist watch. Goten nodded, still watching him. Unable to ignore the gaze that Trunks could feel burning his side, he finally looked over, annoyed.

"Yes?" He asked moodily, receiving nothing but a grin for his anger.

"Are you interested?" Goten asked challengingly. Trunks glare intensified.

"-nonono GUYS!" Trunks and Goten frowned at each other as they heard Josie's panicked voice echoing down the hall and immediately got up, taking two steps towards the door before she burst in, eyes wide, panicked, and clearly out of breath.

"There's a problem." She gulped. "The ball is gone."

"What do you mean it's gone?" Trunks asked, surprised. Josie's angrily looked at him.

"I mean," She started, angrily. "Unless your mother took it from where we agreed to keep it, it is GONE. No longer there. Vanished. Poof. Comprendo?"

Trunks rolled his eyes as he went past her calling for his mother with Goten behind him who went directly to his father's room, hoping this was all a mistake and the ball was just misplaced. Josie sighed as she trailed behind them, arms crossed, having a bad feeling that the ball was no longer on the ship. She pushed the feeling away and purposely moved quicker, intending on going to the lower deck to inform Piccolo.

"Hello?" The vidcom flashed a moving picture of a very confused looking Valerie staring at an empty cockpit. "...Guys? Anyone home?" She scratched her head, bewildered.

...

on earth:

"Well that was weird." Valerie mumbled, turning towards Bra who was just entering the common room where the teenagers usually hung out in their wing of the house at Capsule Corp. Valerie was in front of the camera, staring at an empty monitor.

Bra came up behind her and studied the image as well, tilting her head.

"You sure everything is on?" Bra asked, looking over the controls briefly, receiving a nod.

"Yeah, definitely. Everything should be- I hear something." Valerie hushed Bra as she put her ear closer to the speaker, thinking she could hear very faint voices.

..

On the ship:

Bulma tightened the robe around her body, body tense, a glare on her usually soft face as the teenagers just finished explaining the missing ball.

"What do you MEAN it's gone?" Bulma questioned, angrily, a silent Vegeta beside her.

Before Josie could open her mouth, Gohan face appeared in the doorway, Bulma turned and looked at the disturbed face of Goku's oldest son.

"Gohan?"

"It's..." Gohan's forehead wrinkled as he attempted to make sense of what he just saw. "It's night time outside."

"What?" Trunks exclaimed, standing up. Gohan nodded, looking at him.

"Their are clouds covering the sky, there's darkness as far as the eye can see and I have no idea why."

"No." Josie rejected immediately, arms crossed. "That's impossible. The sun is always out in Namek." Gohan shrugged helplessly.

"I can't explain it, Josie, but I promise you, it's dark out right now." Josie started to head to the door to see for herself but Vegeta shook his head, grabbing her arm to stop her, frowning.

"No." He said simply, he turned towards the others. "We're wasting time, Kakarrot is already miles ahead of us, let's go." Gohan nodded in agreement.

"Where's Piccolo?" Gohan asked.

"He's not on the ship." Josie answered, confused as to why Vegeta wasn't allowing her to leave the room. "I just want to go see it." She attempted.

"No." He said again, firmly. "You and Bulma will stay indoors."

"But Piccolo-"

"The Namek can care for himself." Vegeta said dismissively, looking over at Goten who straightened at the sudden attention. "Gohan and Trunks, we're leaving. Goten, stay here." Vegeta commanded with natural dominance, as he released the pouting Josie and stepped into the hall with the others already following, wordlessly. Goten frowned a little at that order as he watched his best friend and brother leave him alone with Bulma and Josie who both stared at him.

"Why do I have to stay?" Goten finally asked himself, puzzled, a hint of a pout on his lips as his shoulders sagged with acceptance.

Bulma sighed, shrugging, "Bye." She said simply, starting to leave the room.

"See ya." Josie agreed with a final salute for the half Saiyan.

"WAIT!" Goten shouted, throwing his palms up, awkwardly stepping forward, eyes wide. "Where are YOU guys going?" He asked.

"I'm going to go get the scouter to see if there are any high power levels nearby." Bulma said, pointing at the ground to indicate the level beneath the one they were already on.

"And I'm going to get my DBZ stuff and see what I can find on life forms with these unique abilities." Josie explained, her eyes looking like they were already miles away buried deep in research. The two girls left without another word leaving Goten feeling useless and very alone.

"Well great..." He muttered, unhappily as he looked around the empty room, disheartened. What was he supposed to do now? He kicked lightly at the metal ground with the tip of his shoe and made his way out of the room towards the cockpit, intending to go take down the video camera conference that they had been setting up for.

As he got closer to the cockpit entrance he heard two female voices and slowed down, keeping out of sight as he heard Bra and Valerie banter back and forth.

"We've been waiting for over fifteen minutes, Val! we were the late ones, chances are they just went to bed." Bra attempted to reason. "Let's just go to sleep."

"But why would they leave it on?" Valerie asked, confused. "Just a few more minutes?" She asked, hopeful. Bra made an indignant sound and shook her head, Goten unable to see it from where he was listening in.

"No way, Val, I've got a shopping date with some friends in the morning, I'm going to bed." Valerie agreed, sighing and bid her goodnight, promising to shut all the machinery down herself in a minute. She stood up, stretching with a yawn as she set about picking up some of the empty bottles of soda the girls had drank earlier while hanging out in the room.

"Not even the boys were this messy.." She mumbled quietly to herself, feeling a wave of sadness wash over her at the missed opportunity to see her friends, not having realized how much she was looking forward to seeing all of them.

"Man," Goten whistled, impressed. "That place looks like it usually does when me and Trunks get a new release video game and spend a week in there straight." Valerie's gasped, turning quickly towards the screen/camera where she could see Goten smiling in the middle of the cockpit of the ship, hands behind his back with an easy smile lighting his face.

She immediately blushed, embarrassed to have been caught cleaning.

"She gone?" He asked, eyes mischievously, his smile unintentionally widening at the look of confusion Valerie gave him, head tilted.

"Who?" She asked, lost.

"Bra." He answered, grin still in place as he rocked forward and back onto his heels. Valerie blinked as she looked over towards the hallway and nodded dumbly, approaching the camera.

"I think so." She said more quietly, just incase she was around.

"Good." He replied in a shushed tone as well as he approached her image as well. He studied her, smiling; her hair was back in a braid that he was willing to bet Bra forced on her by how neat it was, she was wearing blue cotton pajamas. "I like your jammies." He finally commented, unable to help but tease her as she groaned, mortified, looking away.

"Bra is having her way with me while you guys are gone." She explained, blush still on her light brown cheeks. "Your mom too." She added as an afterthought.

Goten tilted his head at that, curious. "My mom?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah." She said with a sigh. "She's staying with us now - this is her doing." She gestured towards her hair. "She says I hid my face too much." She mumbled. Goten laughed at that, genuinely taken aback by this revelation. His mother had NEVER been fond of any girl that was around his age, thinking them all bad influences and not good enough for him.

"..Hey Goten?" Valerie asked as the young Saiyan quieted down. He raised his brows in question, smiling at her to continue. "Where are the others? not that... seeing you isn't great, but I thought we were all meeting tonight?" Seeing the humor begin to leave his eyes made her regret her question instantaneously. "E-everything is okay, right?" She asked, concerned.

He nodded immediately, looking away with a sigh. "Yeah, everyone is fine." He assured through a mumble. "But things are weird. Everyone should be sleeping right now but almost everyone is out trying to figure out who broke into our ship tonight." Her eyes widened.

"What!" She quickly glanced to her left and kept quiet for a minute, thankful that Bra or anyone else came from the noise. "What?" She asked more quietly, ducking closer to the screen, her face etched with concerned. He nodded, grim.

"We don't know who but we're assuming it's whoever has the other dragon balls. We only had one on the ship but its gone. Dad, Vegeta, Gohan and Trunks are out looking right now." She nodded, still shocked.

"Wow." She mumbled, laying back on her chair. "Where's Josie?" She finally asked, looking back at him. He shrugged looking genuinely unsure.

"She's on the ship somewhere. I think she said she was going to do some research." She nodded.

"Why... aren't you with the others?"

"Heck if I know!" He threw his arms up, miserably, as he too, took a seat. "I'm sure I could be more help out there than in here but here I am.." Valerie grinned, trying not to laugh but not wanting to bear the obvious news to him that he was playing babysitter to the girls while the others were out.

...

"Thank you sweetheart." Bulma said appreciatively from her chair, smiling as Josie waved off the thank you, grinning from the doorway. Bulma was in the lab/infirmary tweaking the scouter when Josie came in, offering to brew her a pot of coffee, knowing that they would all likely be staying up late tonight waiting for the others to come in.

"No prob, be right back." Josie said, disappearing down the dark hallway. Bulma sighed as she relaxed in her seat, glancing over at a drawer nearby. She hesitated for a minute but seconds later reached out and opened it, eyeing the gun inside. Things were getting a lot more serious here faster than she had anticipated and Vegeta could feel it. Her women's intuition was off the scale and her husbands serious demeanor only confirmed what she was feeling, something was seriously off on Namek. Shaking her head, she reached out and grabbed the gun, placing it on the counter beside the scouter as she turned her attention back to her device.

For the last half hour she had been tweaking it to monitor not only strong power levels but all nearby power levels from all the villagers and thankfully that addition was complete. She turned it on and placed it on her left eye, pushing a few buttons, hoping it would tell her the location of the nearest dragon ball. She hadn't thought to remind the boys before they were already out the door and she had no intention of going to retrieve anymore dragon balls but she was hoping she could at least inform the guys when they came back if they didn't find it themselves already.

She frowned when the Dragon Radar didn't read the nearest ball for hundreds of miles.

"That... can't be right, Elder Moori had one.." She mumbled, startled. Elder Moori's home was only feet from where their ship was. There was no way in her mind that someone could have possibly stolen his as well. "What the hell is going on on this pla-" She gasped, her eyes widening as the screen rapidly displayed a high power level rapidly approaching the ship. "No.." The power level wasn't one the scouter recognized as familiar and it wasn't approaching... it was in front of the ship. She shook her head, fear bubbling at the pit of her stomach as it gave the final reading for the power levels location. "It's inside."

Her feet hit the ground running as soon as she heard glass shatter from a distance.

...

"I'm sorry you haven't gotten to do anything very exciting while there." Valerie sympathized, smiling, comfortably resting her elbow on the desk and chin in hand as she and Goten went back and forth about what they had been doing while they were all apart.

Goten looked pretty comfortable too, feet up on the computer console, slouching with his hands resting on his stomach. He shrugged as he lazily brought them behind his head.

"It's not a big deal, we all know we didn't come for a vacation here." He said.

"Except for Josie." Valerie interjected, grinning, knowing that no matter what the situation was, everything was a vacation and an adventure for her. "For crying out loud, she was dying to show me some grass she found." Goten laughed at that, grinning.

"In her defense the grass is pretty awesome here." She laughed in reply, shaking her head.

"Apparently."

"Really though," He said smiling at her thoughtfully. "I would have really liked it if you had been able to come." She smiled shyly, giving a light shrug.

"It's not too late." She attempted, "You could get your dad to whiz me over there in a few seconds if he wants too." He grinned, impressed at the concept.

"That's not a half bad idea..." He agreed. "Maybe I will- ..." He looked to the side, puzzled.

"Goten?" Valerie asked, head tilted. He held up a finger, brows drawn.

"Do you hear that?" He asked quietly. She tried hard to listen through the microphone feed and shook her head slowly. "I think that's a-that's a whistle." He finally verified; Valerie was barely able to see his jaw tighten before he disappeared, his chair spinning slowly, the only indication that he'd been in the room to begin with.

"...Goten?" Valerie asked, a bad feeling creeping up her spine. "Goten?"

Goten was unable to hear anything but Josie's whistle blowing furiously. His mind flew a thousand miles per hour with concern, it didn't make sense, they were in Elder Moori's village, who the hell would dare attack them there?

**This** was why Vegeta had left him here, he realized, to look after the girls while the situation got increasingly more serious on the planet, and he had been off flirting? Growling in irritation at his foolishness, he pushed himself harder as he turned another corner, ignoring his protesting muscles, eyes fixating themselves finally on Josie's scared form down the hall.

In a second he flashed right in front of her and glared coldly at the Namek who's just been pushed back by the force of Goten's arrival.

The Namek bared his teeth as he pushed himself back up off the wall, ignoring the rip to his his red gi, beginning to form a blast in his right hand as he took a step towards them.

Josie had been thrown down by his arrival too, a few feet back from him, eye level with the back of his knees, ignoring the stinging of her hands from the glass she'd landed on. She stared at the Namek, eyes wide as he approached, able to feel Goten tensing, preparing for a fight.

She turned her head slightly to the right when she heard a gun cock and saw Bulma just down the hall, both hands holding a gun that was aimed at the Namek's head, a serious expression on her face, half of her face covered by a scouter.

The Namek heard the noise as well and barely moved his head a fraction and lazily brought his eyes over to Bulma, looking at the gun without an ounce of concern.

"Don't try me." She spat out, angrily. "You're staring at the barrel of an E-11 colt that is MORE than capable of blowing a hole through you."

"You'll be leaving now." Bulma ordered, eyes blazing. "If you move so much as an inch in the wrong direction I will blow your head clean off. I know Nameks can regenerate but I'm fuzzy on the details of your species, Josie?" Bulma called without removing her eyes from the Namek. "Can Nameks regenerate their heads?"

"N-no they can't." Josie replied, gulping. "Their heads have to be in tact."

Bulma nodded. "Good. There you have it." She said with finality. "Believe me when I say, I would make sure your head did **not** remain in tact."

Goten nodded in agreement, fists clenching tighter with the desire to pound this guy into the ground. He wordlessly powered up to Super Saiyan to hellp ecourage his departure, his green eyes staring him down, daring him to defy Bulma's orders.

The Namek finally looked back at Goten, smirking with apparent amusement, slowly, he raised his hand and released the blast he had been holding towards the rooftop above him.

"...My orders are not to kill." The Namek finally said, spitting to the side in disgust. "But soon." He assured them, giving Bulma and Josie one final glance, he smiled again and quickly flew out of there, Goten halfway out of the hole, already giving chase.

"GOTEN STOP!" Bulma shouted worriedly, stopping the teenager right out of the ship, frowning down at her. "I know you want to go after him, Goten." She said seriously. "But don't," She requested. "What if he's not alone? He could be a diversion." Goten's jaw clenched, the primal Saiyan need inside of him screaming to go after the threat. "This could be just what he wants!" She insisted angrily as she holstered her weapon. "Stay with us," She asked.

Seeing him refusing to budge from his spot outside of the ship, she growled in irritation. "He's stronger, Goten." She finally put the final nail the coffin. He flinched at that and looked back down at them in frustration before blasting higher into the dark sky.

He stood out there another moment before a fierce growl escaped his throat as he threw his arms up as called his Super Saiyan power to the surface. Bulma tore her eyes away from him as she carefully went to Josie, ignoring the shattered glass and liquid at her feet, helping her back up to her feet.

"You okay, sweetie?" Bulma asked, still holding on to her elbow as she steadied herself.

"...That was intense." Josie mumbled, shaken. "Ow." She grimaced down at her leg, having forgotten the scalding hot coffee she'd spilled on herself.

"Where does it hurt?" Bulma asked, worried.

Goten came back through the Namek made hole and landed wordlessly beside them, taking Josie's other side and simply scooping her up.

"The others will come back soon after that." Goten said quietly, gesturing towards the hole, indicating his the massive power up he had just undergone to catch the Z fighters attention back to the ship. "Come-on." He said to Bulma, nodding for her to walk ahead of him away from the blasted area of the ship, intending on locking them away in a room with him until the others came back.

Bulma had not been wrong and he'd felt it too. That Namek was stronger than he was and he had come to the ship.

_but why?_ He asked himself, scowling. The dragon ball was long gone and unless this evil entity had stupid lackeys, he would know that. So then why did they return to the ship?

Josie sighed heavily in Goten's arms as Bulma led them to the Gravity Room. Goten looked down at her with concern, Josie noticed it and smiled with a light shrug, keeping her bloody hands on her lap in an attempt to not bleed on him.

"He stole my rape whistle." She mumbled, embarrassed.

* * *

**Note:** Guys, my deepest apologies for the delay. I've been thrilled with the reviews i've been getting but for some reason I didn't really feel the right inspiration to write until two days ago and I didn't want to write super crappy material just to meet my deadline so I held off.

Curious to see how many people get the TFS reference in there! ;) now onto the reviews:

_**LycosTamer**: I can not tell you how much you made me hoot and holler when I read your review. You couldn't slap the smile off my face for hours. Thank you so much, sincerely._

_**Thomas: **Thank you so much my friend, we're so close! I'm so excited._

_**Maniikuu:** I don't know why I never really thought of readers having fun reading a chapter but it gave me butterflies to read that. That chapter was actually a lot of fun to write. This one turned out a lot more serious than I intended, I swear it was not supposed to go this way at all but that's what came out and I'm going to trust it this time! ;) I hope you're well, sunshine!_

_**Clayton: **Thank you for those TWO fantastic reviews. I really do need someone nudging me sometimes and I read your review in class and it made me laugh out loud, I will do my absolute best to accommodate your demands! ;) Thank you so much for sticking with me!_

please let me know what you think of this chapter! I can't wait to hear from you guys :) ja ne.


	25. Chapter 25: Kids, Don't do Drugs

Disclaimer: I definitely do not own my sleep. I should be sleeping. Right. Dragon Ball/Z/GT, most definitely do not own that either. Do I want it? nah, who wants that responsibility!

**Dude Where's my World:**

Revised

**Chapter 25:** Don't do drugs

"Really Bulma? a hospital gown? don't you think we're exaggerating a little bit?" Josie asked, uncomfortably adjusting her gown to cover her knees, displeasure written clearly all over her face.

She was sitting on a small bariatric bed that Bulma had brought along with a briefcase full of capsules with equipment she thought she'd need for Josie as they set up camp in the Gravity Room. She and Goten had agreed to wait there till the others came back because of the rooms ability to double as a Safe Room. The walls almost impenetrable.

Bulma smiled as she put on a glove and studied Josie's leg, the room HAD to be impenetrable to withstand the blows it took from The Z fighters training. Bulma looked over her shoulder at Goten who sat on a small chair by the door, arms crossed, his thoughts obviously miles away.

Josie leaned a little to the side to see what Bulma was looking at and frowned at the look she saw on her friends face.

"Hey Goten." She called, instinctually, not sure at all what she would say to him, even as he looked at, questioningly. "Thank you for saving me," She said with a sheepish smile. "Both of you." She pushed a stray lock of her hair behind her ear; she couldn't even imagine how messed up she must look right now. "You two were amazing." Goten frowned at that, looking at his knees, miserably.

"Hey uh... Bulma?" Josie asked quietly, Bulma turned her attention back to Josie. "Since we're stuck in this room till the others come back, a fact, which my crying bladder is trying to ignore, can I... ask you to go stand way over at that corner of the room and cover your ears for a second for pretend privacy?" She asked with a pained grin. Bulma laughed, nodding. She got up and pretended to mess with the tray full of medical equipment. "Goten." Josie called once more, he raised his head. "Can you come here for a second?"

He got up and went to her, looking at her red and angry looking red calve, guiltily. "After the whole mute thing," She started. "I picked up on guilty expression **real **quick because everyone and their grandmother seemed to think it was their fault I was mute." Josie explaining as she studied her friend with a soft smile. "And I'm really... not used to people feeling so responsible for me, it's really kinda sweet." She brought her hand up to pat him on the shoulder but left it in the air when she saw the bandages, he looked at them and the guilty expression returned. "...but the truth of the matter," She continued strongly, wanting to keep his attention focused on her and not her hand. " Is, I do dumb things sometimes," She indicated dismissively at her hands. "And, occasionally, I get hurt." She said with an unaffected grinned.

Seeing his expression wasn't changing, she sighed, "...Things just happen, Goten." She said more quietly with a playful smile remaining on her face. "I'm queen of guilt trips dude, believe me... but this one is just a lame one to carry." Her smile widened when a tiny smile began to appear on his lips. "I'm fine," She continued, excitedly. "You're fine, Bulma's fine, don't carry around pointless guilt, I'm good, in pain," She admitted. "But I'll be fine, if you want to blame anyone really... you should blame Bulma." Josie assured, grinning when Bulma shouted indignations from the other corner of the room, making Goten finally laugh out loud.

"I'm just saying.." Josie continued, enjoying making Goten laugh after the last tense half hour. "If it wasn't for the coffee Bulma had me get, I wouldn't have a second degree burn on my leg and cuts all over my hands.." She said with a light shrug, giving Goten a wink as Bulma came over huffing.

Bulma slowed when she saw Josie's apologetic expression. She relaxed, smiling as she approached the two, eyes still narrowed and hands on her hip in mock anger.

"You, young lady, are a brat." Josie only grinned in reply, a flash of pain in her face, caught by Bulma who immediately looked at her leg again, adjusting her gloves. "How is it feeling?" Josie felt her heart accelerate at the thought of Bulma touching it. With time passing and the adrenaline burst that the incident had caused, the pain had been dull but now that her body was relaxing it felt like her whole leg was burning and pulsating.

"I think it's fine," Josie said nervously, tone a lot more subdued and quiet. "It'll be fine in a few days, I think." She said dismissively, attempting to move her leg out of Bulma's reach. Bulma shook her head, hands quickly fastening on Josie's knees and staring at Josie's eyes.

"Is it that bad, sweetie?" Josie glanced at Goten who stared at her worriedly.

"...It's starting to hurt more." She admitted finally.

"You don't seem to be developing blisters.." Bulma noted, relieved. "But I can't not treat this, Josie." She could see the younger girl attempting to smile but failing miserably, looking ready to throw up. "Pick her up for me, Goten." Before she could argue, Goten gently placed a hand underneath her knees and lifted her up and followed Bulma wordlessly out of the gravity room, and down a hallway directly to the left.

"I thought we weren't leaving the Gravity Room until the others showed up?" Josie asked, anxiously.

"The others are on their way, they should be back soon." Goten assured as he followed Bulma into a large bathroom.

"Bulma, what are we doing in here?" Josie asked, nervously, eyeing their new surroundings. Bulma gave Goten a look and he firmed his grip as Bulma went to the shower. She unhooked the shower's head and turned it on, adjusting the nob to change the temperature.

That was when Goten started to feel Josie squirm.

"You've got to be kidding me." Josie gasped, looking at Goten fearfully. "You're not going to put water right on it, are you? I don't even have skin there- you can't put water on that! there's brown stuff-"

"That's exactly WHY I'm doing it, sweetheart." Bulma explained over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, honey but that's a pretty serious first degree burn you're sporting, It could get a lot worse if we don't clean, sterilize and treat it to prevent infection."

"Bulma.." Josie groaned unhappily, helpless, as Goten took her closer. She could already feel tiny droplets of water straying towards her face, her arm and one on her leg, near the burn. She tensed, burying her face in Goten's neck, hands helplessly hovering behind him, unable to even squeeze him to help alleviate the pain as Bulma quickly placed the running water on her skin.

Goten lifted his head and looked over his shoulder, easing his hold on Josie, waiting. A few seconds later Vegeta ran into the room with Trunks and Gohan in the doorway.

Vegeta stopped when he noticed what was going on and inspected Bulma. He had worried that something had happened to her when the smell of burnt flesh came into his nose; but now that he was here seeing the tense little girl in Goten's arms, he was surprised he thought for a minute it could be his woman, of course it would be the accident prone girl.

Bulma smiled briefly at him, having recognized his concern for her, feeling a lot more calm now that her husband and son were now onboard their spaceship. S

he relaxed as she finished up with Josie. "Alright, honey." Bulma attempted to soothe. "You're done, you're done." She promised as she turned off the water.

"Guys, what's going on?" Gohan asked, concerned as came up behind Trunks and studied his little brother's back as he and Bulma dried Josie gently off.

"Josie?" Trunks asked, taking a step forward, worried as Josie's wet eyes met his.

"ow." She mumbled, taking a miserable and shaky breath.

"Alright, let's get out of the bathroom so I can finish and we can all have this impending talk." Bulma said with a sigh, shooing them towards the exit so they could get Josie out of there.

Gohan and Trunks backed up and Vegeta left the room and disappeared down the hall, intending to wait for them in the training area. Goten left the confining space of the bathroom and went to the infirmary, per Bulma's request.

Bulma removed her soaked gloves as soon as she got into the infirmary and washed her hands once more, immediately digging through her drawers and looking over the labeled capsules. Goten followed shortly after, setting Josie on the examination table with Trunks right in front of her now, hands on her shoulders, looking down at her with worry.

"What the hell happened?" He was unable to help but ask. Bulma glanced over before going back to what she was looking for, she easily put something on the table and continued digging.

"Trunks we'll explain it to all of you in a few minutes, let's just focus on Josie right now, okay?" Trunks nodded and immediately started taking off his brown jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. He couldn't tell if it was just from pain but she appeared to be cold. He sat next to her on the table and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, thankful when she sighed and leaned on his shoulder, accepting the comfort.

"Rough day huh?" He asked quietly, rubbing her arm, feeling the light nod. He looked over at his mom who had a brand new set of gloves on and seemed ready for the next step. He rubbed her arm a little more firmly, keeping her pressed against him while he extended his other hand to take a small dixie cup from his mom. "The contact is not going to feel so great but it's going to feel better in a little." Trunks assured, feeling her nod, remaining lax at his side as Bulma sat on a stool in front of her and began to rub a white ointment on her leg.

"Come-on, you'll like this part - Goten, can you get me water please?" Goten nodded, going towards the mini fridge in the room that had vials of medicine and a few water bottles. "Alright, ready?" Josie flinched, attempting to pay attention as she sat back up with a little persuasion from him. "Come-on, I promise, this is the least painful." He shook out a pill from the cup into his palm and showed it to her.

"This one is to fight infection." He explained, cupping his palm closer to her mouth, she sighed, leaning forward and taking it in. Trunks grabbed the water bottle from Goten and helped her drink some. Once she swallowed that he scooped out the last one and crushed the little cup, throwing it away. "And this last one, my personal favorite, something to help with the pain." Josie finally smiled, nodding as she accepted that one into her mouth as well. "Good girl." He mumbled, satisfied, arm around her once again, giving her a light squeeze.

"Alright, just going to bandage this and we're done." Bulma announced. "Boys, you want to head into the training area with the others and explain what happened? I'm going to get Josie a chair and we'll be right behind you." The two nodded and started making their way out with Goten lingering. "Goten, we'll be fine, no one can come down here unless they go through the training room with all of YOU in it." Bulma smiled. "Go fill them in."

With both of the guys gone, Bulma turned to Josie, smiling, a hand on her knee as she looked apologetically at the girl.

"Sorry for the pain." Bulma said honestly. Josie shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm a burn magnet. Really." Josie insisted at Bulma's raised brow. Josie blinked a few times, staring at her knees in confusion. "Bulma?" She asked. ".. How long is it going to take for these pills to kick in?" Bulma's smile widened as she instructed the girl to lay down while she searched for her favorite wheelchair.

...

"Goten, what happened?" Piccolo asked first as the two teenagers entered the room where all of the Z fighters were now gathered, standing throughout the room.

"I heard Josie's whistle before I felt the guy's energy, he was strong," Goten admitted.

"Namek?" Gohan asked casually, as he cleaned off his glasses. Goten nodded.

"I just don't understand why he came in the first place." Goten started, crossing his arms , frown in place as he recalled what happened. "If it's all the same group of people doing this, then they already successfully took the dragon ball, why come back to the ship?"

"Did he say anything?" Trunks asked.

"..." Goten's frown deepened as he tried to recall what the Namek said, he honestly was so focused on Josie behind him and concern for Bulma a few feet away, he didn't really pay much attention to him. "He said... something about it not being time- no," His eyes lit up. "He said his orders were 'not to kill' but soon" He noticed immediately the mood darken in the room as the others began discussing back and forth what that could mean.

"Whoever this loser is, he's obviously weak, otherwise he would not be hiding like a coward!" Vegeta said strongly, fist clenched in frustration at how little they were advancing.

"Are the girls okay?" Goku finally spoke up, directing his attention to the teenagers. Goten nodded.

"Yeah, they're okay now, he was with Josie when I got there - I'm not sure what he did but-,"

"He said stuff to me.." Josie announced as she came into the room. The others turned towards the voice, surprised to see her sitting in a black encased hover chair. Josie grinned at them from the seat that covered the bottom half of her body in a safe cocoon.

"Isn't it awesome?" She asked, eyes glazed with excitement, as she got sidetracked on her chair. "Look, look, who am I?" She quickly changed her expression to a scowl and folded arms on her lap, moving forward in the air.

After a few seconds of them not saying anything, her frown became legitimate. "Come-on!" She urged, frustrated. "Imagine a tail coming out of the back." She said, gesturing wildly at the back of her chair as she spun it slowly to give them a better view. "And this has some gold and yellow." She said tapping the front case of her chair. "Woah." She blinked as her chair spun slowly once more without her permission.

Bulma chuckled grabbing the front of her chair and steadying it. "Thanks Bulma." Josie said, beaming up at her. "And horns!" She exclaimed, making Bulma jump a little at the enthusiasm. Josie turned the chair back towards the others, indicating bandaged hands as horns beside her temples.

"..She's uh.." Bulma bit her bottom lip, attempting to not laugh. "She's a little medicated for pain." She explained to the others.

"I'M FRIEZA!" She finally cried out, arms up. Not seeing much of a reaction, she frowned. "Man... you guys would suck at charades.." She muttered.

"He spoke to you?" Gohan asked, stepping forward. Josie raised her eyes to look at him, confused. "Who? Frieza?" She asked. "He's dead, silly, it was just a game." Gohan shook his head, vehemently.

"The namek?" Josie gaze shifted over to Piccolo over his shoulder, surprised.

"Piccolo? No... he doesn't really talk to me much..." She wrinkled her nose, unhappily. "I don't think he likes me very much." She whispered loudly over her shoulder to Bulma, covering her mouth from their view with the back of her hand.

"Josie," Josie blinked, startled as Trunks came and crouched by her chair, smiling at her patiently. "Hey," He greeted. "Can you please tell me what The Namek who broke into our spaceship told you?" He asked, gently. Josie eyes stayed connected with his, opening her mouth to answer him but pausing, her eyes straying towards his hair. "Josie?" Trunks asked, confused.

"I don't understand why your hair is brighter than the other Trunks'." Josie commented, seeming genuinely perturbed by the fact. "THAT, my friends, is definitely not canon..." She rubbed thoughtfully at her chin. "Not that any of this is canon really,.." She gasped, turning to Bulma, eyes wide. "BULMA!"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Bulma asked with amusement, arms crossed loosely.

"Can we get cannons built into this thing?" She asked hopefully, hands on the cover of the hover chair, eyes twinkling with unbridled excitement at the possibilities. "Oh man.." She groaned. "That would be so cool.. nobody could mess with us if we had cannons.." Bulma, finally, unable to hold it anymore let her laughter bubble out at the exasperated expressions on the faces of her family and friends.

"I'm sorry guys, maybe I gave her too much." She apologized sheepishly. "Still working on getting the dosages right with her and Valerie's species. I'm afraid she's not going to be much help until this wears off, so I suggest finding some other leads for now. Come on, lady." Bulma gently cooed at the teenager, unlike her husband and friends, she found the girls drug induced excitement adorable. "We're going to go run a brush through your unruly hair and get you ready for bed."

Josie acquiesced with a sigh, as Bulma pushed the back of her craft, the motion turning it on and hovering forward. "..Fine." She mumbled as they left. "But can we at least talk about maybe painting this?"

"Yes, we definitely can."

"SWEEET" They heard Josie whoop down the hall about to head to the stairs.

"Trunks." Vegeta called. His son looked over at him and recognized the look, nodding when he saw his father gesture towards the girls and without complaint jogged after them. He knew that he wouldn't miss out on an important conversation the Z fighters were about to have, likelihood would be that they would go to sleep for the night and they would have to take turns keeping watch for another attack.

Because by the looks of things, this evil person was not idly sitting by waiting for them to attack but was seeking them out with some preconceived intentions. His expression soured at the idea of this thing coming after his mom and friend.

"Stairs!" Josie cried out, looking at the rounding staircase in awe. Bulma and Trunks moved forward to help her but she held her hands out, stopping them. "No, no." She insisted, lowering her hands to the sides as if the chair was some wide medieval dress that she could force into moving the way she wanted it too. "Watch this baby take turns.." She mumbled, eyes narrowing on the challenge, tongue barely sticking out at the corner of her mouth as she moved the hover chair forward gently, bumping it abruptly on every inch of the railing on her way up, both left and right.

"Watch your hands." Bulma commanded gently, behind her, smiling and shaking her head at every sound of her chair hitting the handrails.

When the finally got to the top, Josie sped up her chair, racing down the hallway.

"BUlma! why didn't you tell me about this thing beforeee, woah!"

"Your dad tell you to follow us?" Bulma asked as she and her son walked side by side towards her room. He nodded, smiling.

"Sorry." He said with not much sincerity. She shrugged.

"I don't mind," She assured. "I'm starting to think we might need it." Trunks narrowed his eyes down the hall where Josie was decidedly missing.

"Jo-"

"TRUNKS LOOK!" He quickly hovered towards the hole in the ceiling where the girls had had their encounter with the Namekian and flew out of it, tense as he looked around for Josie. He saw her a few seconds later, chair calmly sitting on top of the ship, looking up at the stars, mouth slightly agape. "Wow." He looked around, hands in his pocket as he went around the hole to get next to Josie, keeping his senses as open as possible for any nearby Ki.

"Everything okay up there?" Bulma shouted, hands cupped around her mouth.

"We're fine mom!" He shouted, eyes still alert. "We'll be inside in a minute."

"Look." Josie insisted tapping his arm, unable to tug his sleeve, like she wanted too. He finally looked at her and followed her line of sight, straight up into the still dark sky. Clouds darkened the suns, preventing much of the light from coming through, blanketing the land as far as the eye could see. "I never thought I'd see stars on Namek... it's kind of beautiful." She grinned. "In a morbid creepy way. You think he intended to do that?" She asked, eyeing him conversationally.

"Who?" He asked. She shrugged.

"The bad guy."

"..." He took a deep breath, exhaling hard in an attempt to relax, unable to shake the feeling that they were being watched. "Let's go back inside, Josie." He requested, gently nudging her chair towards the hole. Josie allowed him to take her back inside where they went to Bulma's room where she helped her get ready for bed, making Trunks wait outside. When she came back outside she was dressed in flannel pajamas and her hair was down in shoulder set pig tails, ignoring both Trunks and Goten and rushing down the hall towards the cockpit.

"There she goes again." Trunks mumbled, shaking his head. "Told you it wouldn't be easy to keep up with her now."

"No kidding!" Goten agreed, shocked, as he ran to keep up. The two boys stumbled into the cockpit where Josie had finally stopped, staring at the screen with her head tilted.

"Val?" She asked, confused as to why her friend wasn't there waiting for her. "VAL!" She shouted. Trunks quickly stepped forward and covered her mouth.

"Josie, they may all be sleeping." He scolded. She nudged his hand away with the back of her own.

"Val?" She asked again, more quietly, still confused. "Ah!" Her eyes lit up when she saw a dark head rise from the couch facing away from the camera. Trunks glanced behind him and his eyebrows rose in surprise as a sleepy looking Valerie looking around in confusion.

"Dude?" She asked, unsure if she was dreaming. She turned around finally and spotted the screen, eyes widening as she scrambled to move towards it, nearly tripping on her blankets. "Goten!" Goten stepped forward, bringing out a hand from behind his back giving a simple wave and a kind smile.

"Sorry to wake you." He apologized, sheepishly. She was unable to stop herself from glaring at him with exasperation.

"Really?" She asked, somewhat sarcastically. "You think being woken up is big on my list of reasons why I'm upset? you left without a word, looking mighty pissed and worried, might I add, **that** did not help set my mind at ease." He looked genuinely apologetic at that, rubbing the back of his neck with a sigh.

"I am sorry about that Val.." Her glare softened immediately and she smiled.

"It's okay... I was just worried." Josie stared with an arched brow.

"I think they're doing it wrong. Isn't that supposed to last longer?" She quietly asked Trunks rhetorically, referring to the fight. He grinned in reply.

"Nah... I think they're probably doing it right and we're probably the ones doing it wrong." Josie nodded.

"Ah." Valerie heard the mumbling on the side and turned her glare towards Josie.

"And YOU! where the hell have you been? Goten told me what was going on - dropping in to tell me you were fine would have been appreciated, Baka." Josie glared, hovering her chair for maximum effect.

"SILENCE!" She demanded. Valerie's eyes widened at the chairs ability, mouth opening. Josie glanced down at her chair then up excitedly at her friend, remembering her cool new chair. "Isn't it awesome!" She asked, grinning."Oh oh!" She yelled, eagerly. "Who am I?" She turned her chair slightly and pointed at her backside. "Tail." She said simply, then facing the chair forward, she raised her pig tails upward. "Horns." She quickly lowered her hands back to her lap and frowned, hovering there, copying a croaked sounding female laugh.

"Freeza." Valerie chuckled.

"YES! Thank you." Josie grinned. "See guys? yin to my yang, rocky to my Bullwinkle - right heigh too!" She quipped, jokingly. Not noticing Valerie's offended look she moved on to the next thing she wanted to show her, "Look!" Josie She reached into her encased chair and pulled out a water bottle, some bandages and a teddy bear. "I have room to put stuff in here! I asked Bulma if I could keep a gun in here but she said not until I can solve simple math like 7x12 again."

"So you mean never?" Valerie teased. Josie's glare came back, her middle finger attempting to come up, only to remember her whole hand was bandaged up. She stared at her upheld hand in disappoint it.

"Trunks, flip her off." She commanded, surprising him into laughing.

Valerie wasn't amused, however. "What the hell happened!" She demanded, as she stared at Josie's hands.

"Their was a bad green man." Josie offered, holding both hands up. "Man Val! it was insane. He blew the roof and just the force that he came in with made the coffee fall right on me - you wanna see?" She asked, attempting to maneuver her leg out of the snugly fit hover chair with little success.

"No, no, leg stays in the chair." Trunks scolded, firmly pushing her knee back down. "None of that, I don't want you hurting yourself." Josie frowned but shrugged continuing her story.

"I can't really feel my leg anyway." She assured. "But yeah, he was a big ole jerk! straight out of a comic book mean! he ripped my rape whistle and then Goten came and he said, 'You're not gonna mess with my friend anymore!' then he went 'Grah!'-" Trunks mouthed, 'Grah' questioningly at Goten who chuckled, shaking his head to indicate he had no idea. "And then he powered up to Super Saiyan! Val, it was intense! Have you ever been to an air show? you remember the walls of fire they used to set off? it felt kind of like that but not as hot... just prickly, like a chia pet." It was Goten's turn to mouth, 'Chia pet'? at Trunks with confusion who only raised his hands, palm up.

"And then I fell and that's what did this." She continued explaining, gesturing to her hands. "Bulma had a gun and Goten started fighting that guy and he ran him out of town and then Bulma got me this really cool chair." She mumbled happily, running her hands over it. "What do you think we should draw on it?" She asked, raising her head, waiting eagerly for her friends input.

Valerie scratched her head throughout her friends explanation looking more and more confused with Josie's behavior.

"..." She opened her mouth to say something and changed her mind, closing it. "...What did you do to her?" She finally asked, worried.

Josie studied Valerie's unhappy expression with worry, holding the bear tighter to her stomach.

"You think she didn't like the bear?" She whispered to Trunks who only smiled, turning her chair, intending to take her to her room to sleep, knowing that Goten would explain it all to her. It was well past all of their bed times and after the day she had, she deserved the rest.

"You want me to set up a pot of coffee for you, bud?" Trunks offered his best friend before leaving, remembering Goten telling him as they were waiting for Josie to finish getting ready for bed, that he had been selected, along with Gohan, as the unlucky first two to get to do night watch. Goten turned to him, shaking his head.

"Nah don't worry about it, Gohan already put one on." Trunks nodded.

"Alright, well, I'm going to take her to bed because she needs to rest, goodnight Val." Trunks waved briefly to Valerie.

"Night Val!" Josie added, happily waving over her shoulder as Trunks led her to her room. He turned on the light and flipped open the bed covers for her, turning towards her and lifting the quiet girl up into his arms and into her own warm bed, being extra gentle with her leg. He left her right leg slightly uncovered, putting a pillow underneath her leg to let it breathe and hopefully decrease her chances of her turning over and accidentally hurting herself.

"There," He said, stepping back to take a look at his handiwork. "You comfortable?" He asked. She shimmied a little, wrinkling her nose as she tightly held the bear in her arms.

"I'm not a back sleeper." She explained. "But I'll try." She said turning her head to him and offering a smile.

"Good girl." He said, stroking her hair. She glared, a yawn interrupting her attempt at hateful look.

"I'm not a dog.." She mumbled, making him grin, she clearly wasn't THAT out of it, if she was able to catch his unintentional joke.

"Hey Trunks?" She asked, amidst another yawn.

"Hmm?" He asked, smiling as he sat on the bed across from hers.

"I know what 7x12 is. It's 84." She answered, wiping with the back of her sleeve the tears that seeped out of her eyes from excessive yawning. "I'm good with basic math." She assured, making him laugh.

"I'm glad." He agreed.

"My head is a little foggy." She admitted, smiling ruefully. "I hope I haven't said anything too stupid." He grinned, shaking his head.

"You?" He asked with mild disbelief. "Never." He smiled affectionately. "You've been a treat, filly." He assured, seeming honest. "A breath of fresh air." He added before he could stop himself. "From the beginning." He said.

"...At least for me, I'm not so sure about my dad." Josie smiled sleepily at that. "You sure you're comfortable?" He asked, unconsciously attempting to prolong their interaction.

"...My leg might get a little cold, I'm used to sleeping completely covered." She explained.

"Really?" He asked, curious. "I like to have my feet out from under the blankets." Josie wrinkled her nose.

"Don't they get cold?" She asked, disapproving.

"I run warm." He explained, still smiling as he grabbed the pillow on Piccolo's bed and after a moment of consideration, he took off the pillow case and got up, gently placing it on Josie's leg. "This'll be good." He assured as he took a step back. "It's light enough material that it won't bother your injury and more importantly, it wont stick to your burn. I figure it would be better than putting a whole other blanket on you, you might get too warm." Josie grinned at her friend with obvious admiration shining in her eyes.

"You're really smart, you know that?" He gave a light shrug, smiling.

"I have to be." He said easily. "Wait." He paused, looking shocked. "I think that's the first compliment you've ever given me.." Her eyes widened.

"...I really must be drugged - what did your mom give me?"

He smiled in response, capsuling the hover chair and setting it on a small end table, getting ready to leave.

"Wait, Trunks." She called, attempting to shift up but secured too snugly in her blankets. He turned, stepping towards her once more.

"Yeah?"

"Who's staying with me?"

"Piccolo will likely be coming in in a little while." He could see she obviously didn't like that answer but she remained quiet. "Josie?" She moved her eyes to meet his and shrugged.

"It's.. I don't think he'd hurt me or anything." She shrugged again. "I just - I would rather stay with you or Goten." She explained. "I feel like he'll just sit there and try to probe into my brain all night." She grinned. "I just... don't want to be in a room all night with someone who's in the same neighborhood of your dad's distrust when it comes to me." Trunks smiled.

"I don't know, I think my dad's starting to like you." Josie arched a brow.

"I've known your dad since i was at least seven years old. I think I know how he behaves towards people he likes, I'm a long ways from even the tolerate zone, which is my goal by the way," She clarified.

Trunks laughed. "That's your goal huh? that's it." Josie nodded lightly, smiling at him.

"I think so, I can't see what else I could possibly get lucky enough to get while here." He smiled at her horizontal little face peeking out from underneath the blankets he'd basically tied her under, her little bear poking out from underneath her chin. He shook his head.

"I don't know if I'll ever quite figure you out, you know that?"

"What?" Josie asked, opening her eyes again, unknowingly, starting to drift off.

"I said I'll stay," He responded, this time loud enough for her to hear. "We'll be in trouble, come tomorrow morning when my mom realizes it, but I'll stay." He assured. She grinned with her eyes closed.

"Thank you.." She mumbled, pressing her cheek into her soft pillow. "You're a good friend, Trunks." He gave her a polite smile that she didn't quite catch before fluffing his own pillow and taking off his shoes, intending to sleep with everything else on to keep her as comfortable as possible.

He laid in bed for a long time after the last words were spoken between the two, worried, like the others. He could feel that most of them were still up, despite the fact that they were all in their individual rooms. He knew Piccolo had passed by earlier but he had not entered the room, likely having felt Trunks presence.

He was still above the covers, one knee bent with his foot on the mattress, and the arm rom that side behind his head. He let his head roll to the side and his eyes landed on Josie's face smooshed against her pillow and he couldn't help but smile. She looked so uncomfortable, her body attempting to sleep on it's side like normal but the way the blankets pressed around her not allowing her too fully turn.

He had no idea what it was about this girl that had already put her life in danger twice in the first two days that they had been on the planet and countless times back home with his father. She truly was a danger magnet, and yet... she smiled so much. Sure she was a bit melodramatic, he chuckled, but she was just trying to figure out who she was becoming.

And he found himself wishing he could find that out with her, with both of them. Trunks knew, ultimately, that they didn't belong there... but he felt like they could. He knew that Goten felt the same. He turned his face back to stare at the same spot on the ceiling that he had been staring at for Dende knew how long now. The decision, in any case, was up to them, the only thing he could

He **would** do

would be to make sure that while they were here, they were safe and having the time of their young lives. He'd make sure of it.

He smiled with that final thought, turning his whole body towards her, glancing at her sleeping form before allowing his own eyes to close and give in to sweet sleep at last.

* * *

**Note: **I stayed up for you guys! I need to go to work tomorrow morning but the thought of not posting this on my usual deadline bothered me (Though this technically is still passing my deadline, but since I still haven't slept, I claim it's still Sunday!)

_**Biiigfan:**_ my ultimate goal is to make readers smile, so it's an achievement I'm grateful for that I can do that for you! thank you so much, I hope you stick around with us and let me know what you think :)

_**Maniikuu:**_ Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that you've been sick! I've been fighting off random fevers myself the last few days, hopefully staying up late tonight won't set me back! and congratulations on your new job! You'll have to tell me more about it later :)) and NEVER apologize, I love your reviews, regardless of length!

_**Clayton**:_ I'm so glad you made an account! thank you so much for being such a fantastic reader/reviewer. I truly appreciate it!

_**Thomas Drovin**:_ It worked out so perfectly that you were reviewer number 100! I was so excited and I knew my good friend would share in my excitement. Thank you for being such a great supporter, Thomas, I'll always appreciate it!

_**ImmatureChild:**_ Yes! the rape whistle! I was sad to see it go too lol ;) and i'm glad you guys didn't mind the brief intensity! I worry about things like that sometimes because I don't want to make the story a downer for anyone X) Thank you so much for your review!

_**LycosTamer:**_ You have it pretty much nailed, YES, it's definitely very similar to that. I didn't expect many to catch that so quickly, kudos! Thank you for your words!

Goodnight guys, I hope you have a wonderful Monday, I'm going to try to be of good cheer as I sleepily go throughout my day, lacking in sleep ;) you guys could totally make it all worth while for me with a review..? eh, it was worth a try! Goodnight world! Review please!

also, I apologize for spelling/grammar errors, again, pretty late and exhausted :) I'll go back and correct what I can tomorrow! thanks for your patience!


	26. Chapter 26: Lessons part 1

**Disclaimer: **I disclaim nothing! I own everything!

...just kidding -_-

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 26: **Lessons part 1

".Mhm...I didn't know Brendan Fraser was a nazi.." Josie mumbled sleepily, eyes shut, face turned away from the middle of the room. "I like him in The Mummy..."

"... Josie?" Trunks called, curiously, as he pulled the blankets off of him and shifted his legs over to the side of the bed, his sock clad feet touching the floor as he stood up and carefully stepped closer, peering down at her. "Josie."

"...Fine, I liked him in George of the Jungle-" Josie's eyes widened as she woke up and Trunks face was right above her, tilted and looking quite confused. She quickly sat up, not thinking the movement through, her forehead colliding with his, making both teens cry out.

"Ow!- Trunks, what are you doing in my room?" Josie asked, mortified, as she rubbed her forehead carelessly for a moment before staring at her upheld hands in horror. "..What the hell happened last night.." She mumbled, in awe. "...Did I drink?" She asked Trunks with some confusion and worry. She wasn't the type to drink but with everything that had been happening, nothing was impossible..

The door burst open with a concerned Bulma standing in the doorway. "Josie I heard you... scream. Trunks," She finished, eyes drifting lazily between both of the teenagers. Her posture tensed and she brought her arms up, crossing them, frown beginning to form as she took in Josie's disheveled appearance and her son not wearing any shoes. "...Did you two spend the night together?" She asked, a hint of danger in her voice, which immediately had her son taking a step away from Josie and shaking his head.

"No." He responded automatically. "-I mean yes, but no." He shook his head, heat covering his ears and cheeks. "Mom-"

"May I speak to you outside, son?" Bulma asked, standing to the side to make room for him to pass, staring at her son cooly. He considered arguing with her and insisting that what she thought she was seeing was completely off the mark but he'd seen that expression on her face before and he knew he was better off taking his punishment in private, not wanting to further be embarrassed in front of Josie.

"Yes, mother." He mumbled, uncomfortably as he made his way out of the room without his shoes. Josie watched the two leave, completely ignorant about what had silently passed between the two Briefs. She shook her head, staring at her hands.

"Man, what the heck happened..."

...

Bulma instructed Trunks to the cockpit where he looked out the now open windows.

"Suns back." He commented, conversationally, hoping to avoid his mother's fury.

"Trunks, look at me." He grimaced but did as he was told, turning to look his mother in the eyes. He was surprised when he wasn't immediately verbally assaulted by his mother but instead only received a prying stare.

"..Mom?' He asked, self conscious, feeling almost as bad with this as he would of if she had just yelled at him. "..Uh mom?" Her eyes finally seemed to stop trying to stare into mind and she looked at him with the normal expression of displeasure that she seemed to reserve for Saiyans.

"Trunks..." She hesitated, not seeming to know where to start.

"Mom, nothing happened." He assured insistently. "That was possibly the most innocent night I have ever had with anybody. Nothing happened." She sighed, body sagging as she walked past him to take a seat on one of the chairs, shaking her head.

"I know, son." She finally admitted. He blinked, surprised, having expected a lot more of a struggle to get her to believe him. His brows drawn down, he took a step towards her, confused himself.

"..If that's true, then why do you look so..." He struggled to find the right word.

"Disappointed?" She offered, smiling sadly. "Worried? confused? I'm all of those things right now, Trunks."

"But why?" He asked, scratching the back of his head, feeling completely lost.

She turned to fully face him, expression serious. "I'm disappointed because you know better, Trunks. Regardless of the fact that nothing happened, while she and Valerie are in our plane of existence, she has been under MY care," She said strongly. "I'm responsible for her. She may not know it, but I take that responsibility, as a mother, very seriously. That means," She said, anger building as she stood up. "That you have to conduct yourself, as my son, like a polite and responsible adult towards her. Despite the harmless sleepover you intended, it is still not appropriate, Trunks." He bowed his eyes, partially out of shame. "You are an eighteen year old young man and she's sixteen year old teenage girl. I know the age gap is tiny but I will not have you engaging in something illegal under my roof." He looked away, hands on his hips, somewhat irritated with the unfair onslaught.

Bulma bit her bottom lip, placing a hand gently on his cheek. "I'm sorry, Trunks, I don't meant to be so hard on you, sweetheart... but you're such a bright new star at Capsule Corp, I would hate to see that tarnished."

Not seeing much of a reaction, she pulled away to give him some space, feeling guilty for laying all of this pressure on her son. She hated to do it but he intended to be the CEO of her father's company very soon, he needed to see that that title and workload was not going to be without it's compromises, without its sacrifices.

"...Baby, the reality is," She said quietly. "That she'll be leaving soon. I don't tell you this just because she's a minor and it could mess up your career. I'm telling you this because you're my son, and I love you, and i don't want to see you get hurt." She explained earnestly, her heart clearly in her hands.

He glanced over his shoulder at her. She never called him her baby unless she was truly worried and meant every word of what she was saying. He could see it in her eyes. He sighed, nodding as he turned back to her, hand on his hip.

"You said confused too." He mumbled, running his other through his hair in frustration. "I see the worried part - what about any of that is confusing?" She smiled sadly, shrugging.

"Because I love her too." She laughed, feeling a little crazy. "And I don't know what do with that!" She said loudly. "I love both of those girls so much more than I thought I ever would. What's not to love about them? they're passionate and sweet, kind and so..." She shook her head, eyes passionate for the right words. "Lost." She finally said. "And seeking approval and happiness and they are just figuring out who they are and I so wish that we-." She stopped herself from finishing that sentence, not sure that she wanted to admit this to her son. She could see how much this all weighed on him already, though and she needed him to know that she was right there with him. That she'd miss them too. "I so wished that we could be a part of it." She smiled softly. "But I don't think we can, Trunks. They need to go home."

"You're right." He said after a minute or so of absolutely silence. "But theres nothing preventing us from making them happy while they're here, right?" He asked, forcing himself to be cheerful. She smiled at him, touching his shoulder.

"You're a good boy." She told him lovingly. "You're absolutely right... as long as it's-"

"Yes, mom, I know." He said, rolling his eyes.

"...So uh guys?" They both turned to the entrance where Josie was entering with her hover chair. "I waited as long as I could..." She explained, scratching the side of her head uncomfortably with her bandaged hands. "But then I remembered what happened and silence just reminded me of what happened last night and the nazi dream I had for some reason, so uh... can I come be with you guys?" She asked, hopeful. Trunks looked at his mother for permission and she nudged him towards the girl with a smile.

"Go," Bulma said, grinning, happy to see her son genuinely laugh with amusement when Josie brought out his shoes from the secret compartment in her hover chair, which she told him all about with her natural excitement. He crouched in front of her, smiling as she finished her explanation of how she got out of bed.

"It was kind of awkward but I managed to support myself with a bear someone left on my bed." She shrugged. "Realized later there's a little side door, but look at the seam work on this, I couldn't even see it at first." She mumbled, tracing a hand over the side.

"What do you want to do this morning?" He asked, still smiling as her eyes came back to his, thoughtfully. "...Do you want to go bug Goten for a little before breakfast, I'm sure he's sleeping, he and Gohan had the first night patrol duty of the night." Josie considered it before shaking her head.

"Nah, he's probably exhausted."

"Do you care?" He asked, his smile widening as she fought not to smile, herself.

"Not a friggin bit." She admitted, laughing, as she covered her blushing face. "Let's go!" Bulma watched them go with a heavy heart, not sure if she did the right thing by treating him so much like a full grown adult. He was still a teenager at heart and still experiencing so many things that she vividly remembered experiencing herself at his age. She smiled at that last thought, finally starting to casually walk onto the ramp and into the hallway herself, her mind far away to more than twenty years ago.

...

Earth:

"...you know, if I ever thought about what it would be like if I was a part of this world, this was definitely not the first scenario that came to mind." Valerie offhandedly commented to Pan with a shake of her head as Chichi finished the last repair on the outfit Valerie was wearing in front of Bra's large mirror closet.

"What? taking classes from the world's strongest human man?" Pan questioned, arching a brow.

"Second." Bra corrected, grinning from the back, leaning against the wall, watching this all unfold. "If you count Krillin."

"Third." If you count Tien Shinhan." Chichi added, distracted, as she measured a seam in the back of Valerie's brown gi.

"Four, five and six if you include Chiaotzu, Krillin and Uub." Valerie shrugged. "The list could go for days."

"Is Chiaotzu even human?" Bra asked, chuckling. Valerie glanced over her shoulder at her, immediately scolded by Chichi and straightening. "I've always wondered that." She admitted.

Valerie nodded. "Yeah, I've never seen anything that said he wasn't." Bra grinned.

"I love being able to ask you guys anything and have you know the answer. What's my fortune Val? who do I end up with?" She asked, eyes wide with excitement. Valerie scratched her head thoughtfully and was rewarded with one more scold before quickly standing tense and still again.

"Sorry." She mumbled, embarrassed. "Uh... Bra... I don't know, you weren't really... a major character to my knowledge. I only saw pictures of you, and you forget, I never saw GT."

"Boring!" Bra declared, arms crossed, walking out of her large closet. "Let me know when you're ready. I want to see you off." Bra said with a grin as she left the room.

"Evil pre-teen.." Valerie mumbled with a sigh as she stared at her reflection of herself in the mirror.

"Tell me about it," Chichi agreed out loud, focused. "Reminds me of her father." Valerie chuckled, tilting her head as she tried to accept the brown gi she was wearing, one very similar to Hercule's own. "You're done." Chichi declared, standing straight and taking a step back with a smile. "You should look at the back." Valerie turned her body a bit and tried her best to look with the mirror at the back and groaned, in horror.

"You put Hercule's Pupil back there?" Chichi nodded with a large smile. "In english? DBZ puts Japanese symbols! not english - I appreciate this Chichi but..." She grimaced, trying hard not to say what was really on her mind.

"Well," Chichi turned to look at Valerie's reflection with her. "If I put it in Japanese, you wouldn't understand it, now would you?"

"I understand some, Miss Chichi! I'm half Japanese!" She cried out. Chichi turned surprised eyes towards the girl once more, studying her with new eyes.

"...You are?"

"Yes!" She could see the wheels turning in Chichi's mind with the possibilities as her eyes twinkled and her smile widened. Valerie jumped back when Chichi hooted and hollered excitedly, jumping up with one fist in the air in victory.

"You are marrying my son." She declared with passion, leaning uncomfortably close towards Valerie who lost her balance and waved her hands erratically, trying not to fall backwards.

...

"Now that was freaking fun." Josie remarked, grinning as Trunks pushed her down the halls of the ship after leaving Goten's room.

"That was kind of mean." Trunks replied, smiling, trying to hide his own amusement at what they had done to Goten who would probably have a hard time going to sleep after that. He pushed Josie's chair into the kitchen where Goku was sitting at the table, stuffing his face with eggs and pancakes.

"Oh hey guys!" He greeted excitedly, barely able to speak through all the food. Josie wrinkled her nose, looking away.

"Try that again without the mouth-full next time, Goku?" Trunks requested with a smile as he set Josie by the table and went to the fridge to rummage. Goku frowned as he continued to chew vigorously, thumping his chest with the inside of his fist to help him swallow. Once he painfully got the food down, he took a swig of water and grinned at them.

"I was looking for you two." He explained. Josie raised an eyebrow, arms crossed lightly.

"Were you having any luck in that ten stack of pancakes?" Josie asked jokingly. Goku only grinned in reply.

"You two are here, aren't you?" He challenged playfully. She nodded, chuckling.

"Guess so."

"Come-on." Goku encouraged, grabbing a plate and passing over three of his pancakes over to her. "Eat, you have a busy day ahead of you."

"I do?" Josie asked, head tilted, looking over at Trunks questioningly. Goku nodded as he nudged her plate towards her once more.

"You do. We're going to take you to Elder Mori and get your leg and hands all fixed up." Goku laughed at the surprise that registered on Josie's face. "What, you thought we'd let you sit in a chair for this whole trip? things are heating up, Josie, we need everyone at their best."

"He isn't kidding." Gohan said seriously as he entered the kitchen with Piccolo looking solemn.

"Hey Gohan, what's going on?" Goku asked.

"It's not good, dad." Gohan said with a sigh, handing him a stack of papers. Josie could see through the back that they were photographs and though she did her best to lean over to take a look, Gohan shook his head. "No, Josie, you shouldn't look." Trunks walked behind Goku, resting his hands on the back of his chair as he studied the pictures over his shoulders.

Josie could immediately feel the tension rise in her friend's body, his expression souring.

"...Who could do such a thing?" Trunks asked, anger ringing through his voice.

"I don't know, Trunks." Goku said calmly, frown on his face as he went to the next picture ."But whoever they are, they have no respect for life... where did you find these, Gohan?" Goku asked, eyes raising to meet his son's.

"Me and Piccolo went out a few hours ago once daylight hit again and scouted the places we didn't get too last night. I think these were set out as a distraction for us while we were gone. There's... no other reason I can think of for why they would carelessly burn bodies in plain sight when they've left no traces before." Goku nodded in agreement.

"Has Vegeta seen these?" Goku asked receiving a nod.

"Yeah. He's ready to go whenever you are," Goku stood up.

"Let's go, Gohan, you should stay." Goku requested. "You haven't slept yet."

"But Dad-"

"He's right, Gohan." Piccolo added. "You won't do us much good exhausted. You and Goten need to sleep." He said firmly, arms crossed. "I'll stay as well, to keep watch." Goku nodded, patting Josie's briefly.

"Make sure you eat something and get to Elder Mori today." He suggested kindly. "I want to see you walking around when I come back."

"Sure." Josie said quietly, eyes on the pictures that he'd left on the table. "Be careful." She added as an after thought over her shoulder as the three men left the room leaving her alone with Piccolo. She knew that he wouldn't worry about her 'innocent' eyes and immediately dove her hands for the picture.

And just as she suspected, he didn't move a muscle to stop her, instead, watching her.

The pictures all had piles of bodies stacked, Namekian people, burned and charred, some having obviously been maimed before burning.

""...Oh gross." Josie muttered quietly to herself as she noticed a stray limb. She set the picture down calmly on the desk, thoughts drifting once more to who could do this kind of damage.

"...You don't seem very startled by the images." Piccolo pointed out. "When Gohan showed Bulma, she could barely keep her food down."

"I've seen this kind of stuff before..." Josie answered, eyes still on the image as Piccolo came around her. "Anime can get pretty gory."

"Anime?" He demanded, outraged. "This ISN'T-" He stopped mid sentence when he startled her into jumping. "Let's go." He said angrily, moving her chair out of the door and down the hallway.

...

Earth:

"I so wish I could drop you off." Bra said with a lethargic sigh as she leaned into Videl's car, grinning joyously at Valerie who was buckling her seat belt and glaring at her at the same time.

"You prove my theory to be true every time you open your mouth.." Valerie replied, scathingly. Bra's grin only widened, not sure what Valerie was talking about but enjoying the bursts of annoyance Valerie displayed from time to time. Now that her brother and Josie weren't around, she had no one to irritate and Valerie made a LOVELY substitute.

"Enjoy." Bra said mockingly, patting the door and waving happily as the car started to hover up into the air. Valerie immediately grabbed onto the dashboard, alarmed.

"Videl?" She asked, surprised, as the car zoomed through the air.

"Yes?"

"Why are we flying?" Valerie asked nervously. Videl glanced at her with amusement.

"Don't tell me you're scared? I thought you have flown before with the boys." Valerie nodded.

"Yes, but they're... strong, somehow, a flying car doesn't make me feel as safe." Videl only grinned in reply, turning her attention back to the sky.

"I understand that feeling." Videl said, smiling. "There's just something about being with these guys." Valerie smiled, feeling somewhat disarmed with that comment, she nodded, relaxing. "It's hard to explain, but you're safe, warm, protected and loved - whether you're close with them or not," She said laughing, "Makes sense that they would naturally exude those emotions in people after all the times they've saved all our hides." She said smiling.

Valerie's eyes brightened as Videl spoke, "Yeah.." She grinned in agreement. "..It's a honor to have met any of them and to become friends.." She shook her head. "I keep thinking I'll wake up." Videl smiled at her.

"You're good kids." Videl commented. "I'm really glad to have known you."

Valerie looked at her, surprised, "You know we're leaving?"

"Goten told me." Videl answered, smiling. "I think he likes you." Valerie blushed profusely, looking away.

They remained silent throughout the rest of the ride, Videl neither willing to divulge anymore information and Valerie not willing to ask anymore, though she remained curious.

Once they arrived, Valerie nervously got out of the car, turning around and looking in the window at Videl with confusion.

"Why... aren't you getting out?" Videl smiled.

"I have some things to do in town. I'll be by in a little while." Videl tried not to laugh as Valerie's face began to slowly turn to one of horror.

"You're going to leave me alone with him?" She asked, terrified.

"You'll be fine, my dad is a nice guy to his students...relatively." She grinned. "See ya." Before she could argue any further or attempt to change her mind, Videl drove off, leaving her on the sidewalk.

She shook her head as she turned around to study the home she'd only been to once before. Only she could have such terrible luck as to end up having to study as a student to her least favorite character in the series.

"I'm too nice for my own good.." She mumbled, tying the white sash around her waist once more. The brown material that replicated Hercule's famous outfit was actually not very uncomfortable, Chichi had added (for obvious reasons) a white undershirt and had allowed her to keep her hair down. "This won't be so bad." She tried to encourage herself. "Its Hercule, how bad can he be?"

You GIRL!" Valerie groaned as she was allowed through the front gates and her ears were immediately assaulted by Hercule's unpleasant growling voice.

"..Yes, sir?" She asked, sighing as she turned, standing immediately at attention, feeling immediately intimidated, when he stood imposingly before her at 6'2 in comparison to her small 4'9 frame.

"You're late." She blinked, surprised at that statement and though she wanted to disagree that, she had no watch on her to confirm the time; she simply nodded, scratching her head.

"I apologize..?"

"Just don't waste my time, kid, the Champs got plenty of things he could be doing with his time other than training a small girl like you. Are you ready for your first order?"

"Yes sir." She said, straightening.

"Bring me a half skinny-1 percent extra hot split quad shot latte with whip and make it snappy." Valerie's head tilted a bit, confused.

"...I'm sorry, what?" His brows furrowed. "I-... you want coffee right now?" She asked, shocked. "You want me to get you coffee."

"The Champ has got to have his daily fuel to begin his day properly."

"But that has nothing remotely healt-"

"Are you questioning your Master?" He demanded, fists at his sides. She shook her head quickly in response.

"No..." She swallowed what felt like a rock in her throat. "Sensei.." She cringed. "I'll just... go get that for you now..." She assured, turning around and slowly walking to the house, bewildered. "As soon as I find a computer with google access to figure out what some of that is..."

She went towards the kitchen where another apparent student was grabbing a pound cake out of the fridge for the champ. He turned to her as he saw her search the covers for anything resembling coffee.

"Are you Master Hercule's new pupil?" He asked, curious, orange bangs getting in his eyes as he studied the newbie.

"Looks like." She mumbled, looking around. She quickly spotted a chair and went to grab it, bringing it to the cover to reach the higher spots of the cabinet.

"Kind of puny to be his student, aint ya?"

"This looks like Folgers. You think he'd mind folgers?" She asked him, turning the red can towards him. He shrugged, closing the refrigerator.

"Your neck." He said, not caring terribly. "See you out there." Valerie looked at him, surprised.

"He's training you too?" He nodded.

"Yup. You, me, and three others for a personal training session. You must have done something really impressive to have earned a lesson without graduating his master course first." He stopped at the entryway turning more fully to study the new girl. "Hey! I know you, you're the girl who killed the cat!" Her eyes widened, horrified.

"What?" His green eyes laughed with merriment at how quickly she'd become distressed.

"I'm sorry, I had too, Pan told me to tell you that." Valerie groaned, coming off of the chair and putting the container of Folgers unhappily on the counter as she went in search of a cup. "Please don't be offended." He asked, smiling. "Pan said it would be worth it and it kind of was. Valerie, right?" He asked, voice friendly, as he took a step forward and reached out a hand.

She hesitated for a moment but finally extended her hand to his, earning another smile from him. "My name is Matt." He offered, kindly. "How about I help you finish that coffee as an apology and I go introduce you to the others?"

* * *

**Note: **I'm so sorry for the two week delay, everybody! I had no intention of it but I've been so busy with work and life! I've had dozens and dozens of ideas running amuck in my mind and it's made it hard to concentrate on this story. Anyway, I hope this chapter wasn't complete poop! Like I said, because of my inability to sit down and focus, I feel it's a bit scrambled, but I assure you, that I'm done delaying the showdowns. I don't intend to spend much more time in Namek than a few more chapters and none others will be this short.

_**Animefan202:** Thank you SO much for reviewing more than the last chapter. It doesn't seem you stuck around with us, but I am still truly grateful for that lovely surprise and your feedback. I was so excited when I received it!_

_**Immaturechild: **I feel like that all the time! I love it! lol it's why I think I update once a week to keep it kind of like a show, but unfortunately I missed a week X)_

_**Duckielover101: **Thank you for reviewing! I truly appreciate it, I'm so glad the girls remind you of yourself! do you have a girl you identify with more? I'm always curious, I feel like most people say Valerie. I hope you keep reading and reviewing! I would love to hear more of your thoughts :)_

_**Biiigfan:** HA! I know a lot of people who react like that with sugar, or with energy drinks too! I'm so glad you loved the chair, I didn't initially intend to do that but it came out that way and it made me chuckle too so I kept it!_

_**Maniikuu**: I honestly felt it was inevitable to make one of the girls high, as terrible as that sounds lol I didn't expect this to be the first time though! but I'll maybe do it again sometime because I truly doubt the girls will stop getting hurt lol_

_**Thomas Drovin**: thank you Thomas! you're always so preoccupied with my well being before all else :) I truly appreciate it but thankfully a few nights without my full eight hours of sleep isn't the worst thing in the world so I'll be fine! I hope you're doing well, my friend!_

_**Clayton1998**: And finally, Clayton! thank you so much for your review, it made me so happy and I'm telling you, sometimes I really do need someone reminding me that they're waiting for a new chapter to get my gears in motion. I appreciate the reviews!_

If I get a good amount of reviews, I promise to post a new chapter mid-way through this next week as an apology for my long delay! I love you guys, you're the best, keep telling me what you think and would like to see!


	27. Chapter 27: Lessons part 2

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of the dbz universe.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Chapter 27**: Lessons part 2

"Alrighty, meet the rest of the team, Valerie, this is Robert." Matt introduced as he came out into the front yard where three other boys were stretching on Hercule's front lawn, all varying in age and size.

Matt seemed simple enough, in all likelihood to Valerie, he was probably around her age, about 5'9 with a light complexion. Robert, the man who he had just introduced her too was likely more in his mid twenties, had dark brown eyes and dirty blonde hair, was a similar complexion to Matt and only a few inches taller.

"And this is Dash." He said, gesturing towards an overly courteous fellow who just about bowed.

"Greetings." He welcomed kindly, showing a mouth full of white pearly teeth. His demeanor relaxed as he went back to stretching, his taut skin a bit darker than Valerie's with light hazel eyes and brown hair, easily towering over all of the students around him.

"Assemble!" Hercule demanded as he strode back to them, ignoring the scrambling youths who nearly tripped over each other to stand in a straight line for their teacher. Valerie had barely moved, simply turning to face the man, extending the cup of hot coffee to him. Hercule took it and sniffed it before taking a drink. He nodded, satisfied, taking a larger drink before throwing the cup over his shoulder. "That hit the spot." He said, satisfied, patting his belly, not noticing Valerie breathe a sigh of relief, a grin on her face.

"Folgers never fails.." She mumbled.

"Did you say something, girl?" Hercule demanded, eyes narrowing on the girl who was already showing herself to be a troublesome student.

"No, sir." He nodded, hands behind his back as he walked down the line of his students.

"You've all been selected because you've managed great things through our Dojo and for that feat alone, you should be proud of yourselves." He glanced at Valerie who ducked her head, embarrassed. All she had done was kill a cat. "I won't lie to you, this training will not be easy but if you want to become a great world champion like me, you have to put in the time and effort!" Valerie glanced down the line at the young fighters who were just eating this all up.

"We're going to start with a basic series of training exercises to test out your abilities. This'll help me see what you have learned and how much I have to hold back so I don't hurt you runts." Hercule continued to pace before them, occasionally glancing at Valerie who seemed to be his main concern. "You. Pan's friend. You are up first." He gestured a thumb for her to come towards him.

She glanced nervously at the others before stepping forward. "Nice outfit, kid." He added as an afterthought when he finally noticed what she was wearing. She groaned as the others behind her snickered amongst themselves. "..So you're sure you're not like any of Goku's friends, right?" He quietly asked her. She nodded, straining her neck to look up at him. He nodded with satisfaction and straightened, patting his stomach. "Go ahead and hit me with your best shot, kid."

Sweat dropped down the side of her face as she stared at his hairy chest with distaste. Before she could stop herself she shook her head, seemingly on repeat, unable to stop. His brow deepened as he stared down at her unhappily.

"Are you really disobeying the first order your Master is giving you?" That question only made her head shake harder. "Good!" He said firmly. "Now do it." She hesitating took a step back and attempted to relax her shoulders a bit, took a deep breath and punched him in the stomach. She cried out in surprise and a little pain when her fist resisted against the firm flesh and recoiled back.

This time it was Hercule's turn to sweat drop. "…Uh…. Good first try, kid. Your fist alright?" He asked, uncomfortably. She stopped rubbing her fists, embarrassed and nodded. "Good. Now all of you take five laps around the manor and meet me back here in fifteen."

Valerie jumped as all the guys behind her shouted in unison, "Yes, sir!" Valerie scrambled to fall in line behind them, shaking her head, her face flushed with embarrassment. _This is so much more humiliating than boot camp… I didn't even phase him. Josie better never find out about this._

…

"Mom?" Bra stated more than asked, surprised, her beautiful blue eyes blinking on Bulma's large projector screen in the cockpit of the ship. Bulma smiled, a warm feeling enveloping her from seeing her beautiful little daughter. "I figured for some reason one of the guys would answer the call." Bra explained her surprise, smiling at her mother.

"They're off looking for the bad guys." Bulma explained. "I'm surprised you made the call, sweetheart. Is something going on?" Bra shook her head, a devious smile dancing on her lips now.

"Not really, I just wanted to tell Josie all about what Valerie's doing today. Where is she?" Bulma glanced behind her as she thought about it, almost as if that movement would help her place Josie's whereabouts.

"I think she's with Gohan or Piccolo somewhere getting her leg –" She turned back to her daughter, smiling. "She's around, but probably busy, baby, I'll have her call you back so you can update her, how's that sound?" Bra nodded, grinning.

"Thanks mom, you're the best." Bulma nodded, blowing her a kiss.

"I miss you." Bra returned the sentiment, genuinely. "I'll see you soon, sweetheart – oh and Bra?" Bra was already reaching to turn off the camera, tilted her head and looked at her mother questioningly. "Don't tell Josie something Valerie doesn't want her to know." Bra only grinned in response.

"Yes, mommy." Bulma laughed, shaking her head.

"How did I raise such a wicked daughter?" Bra only smiled at her in a way that reminded her of her husband, which only made Bulma's smile grow. "I love you, kiddo."

When the screen went black, Bulma's smile unintentionally disappeared as she turned to look out one of the still open windows, wondering where it was that Josie was at the moment; she hadn't seen her since she'd left with Trunks.

Meanwhile, outside Josie was awkwardly trying to maneuver her chair faster after Piccolo whose long legs were taking him a lot farther and lot faster through the small village. She could feel that it wasn't just his long legs, though, he was irritated with her and her stomach clenched uncomfortably. She didn't know why it was that he hated her so much, she could feel it oozing out of him, she'd seen this guy from when HE was a baby and to know that he found her... disgusting, was hard to swallow.

"P-piccolo?" She flinched back when he turned around, nearly barely his fangs at her. "I'm sorry." She mumbled, looking down. "I was just wondering how much longer wi-" She swallowed in an attempt to moisturize her dry throat and quickly shook her head. "Never mind, I'm sorry." She apologized quietly, ducking he head and following him silently into Elder Mori's home.

The elder was already waiting for them looking pensively out the window. He turned towards them as they entered and he did his best to give them a smile. His eyes landed on Josie and his eyes saddened as he took in her appearance.

"One of my sons did this to you." He said, not bothering to ask. The grave situation was gradually becoming more and more clear. Someone was leading his children away from him and, somehow, causing them to do terrible things.

"I brought her as you requested." Piccolo said politely to the elder, moving aside for her to roll forward. Elder Mori nodded, turning more fully towards her, as she approached him shyly.

"I'm deeply troubled by the harm that was brought upon you by my son. You have my deepest regrets - he is not himself." He apologized sincerely. She smiled at him, shaking her head.

"It's not your fault and they're really just scratches." She said bringing her hands up to show them how minor they really were. "See?" He nodded, eyes still heavy. He gently put his large hands underneath her own to inspect them more carefully.

"May I help you?" He asked her gently. She blinked, anxiously, and hesitantly nodded. "It won't hurt." He assured, his hands slowly beginning to glow. Josie tensed her body, attempting not to pull back instinctually at the sight of the bright light. The last time a glowing light had been this close to her she was unable to speak for weeks. "Relax your mind." He soothed, smiling calmly.

She watched him curiously, taking a deep breath and focusing on the warmth that resonated not only in her hands now but throughout her entire body. She couldn't describe it; it was like warm rose petals hovered just above her skin but she could actually feel it's caress all over.

And she could feel him. She felt connected to him, to the natural source of healing power that resonated within him, to so many Nameks and for a fleeting second, she could almost feel the dragon he had created.

Elder Mori chuckled as he continued to lightly hold her hands, he looked over her head at Piccolo. "This will take a little longer than I expected. Her skin is not like the earthlings from planet earth." He turned to her, smiling gently. "It's, somewhat, more fragile." Her closed eyes narrowed, and unable to control herself, she exhaled audibly in frustration. He looked at her apologetically, a smile still firmly on his face as he continued to work on healing her.

Piccolo stepped out to talk to the locals and came back fifteen minutes later to see Josie deep in a serious conversation with Elder Mori. As soon as he entered, however, Josie quieted and gave him a hesitant smile, which he ignored.

"Let's go." He told her simply, "Thank you, Elder Mori." Without any word he turned and started to make his way out again, expecting her to obediently follow.

"Thanks for the... whatever that all was!" Josie waved, bandages off, as quickly capsuled Bulma's hover chair and jogged after Piccolo who was in the middle of town already, looking like he was trying to make a decision.

She was tempted to ask him what was up but knowing it would do nothing but earn her a glare, she opted to stand beside him until he was ready to go back to the ship. She finally had enough time to really take in her surroundings; the village was so tiny, only three houses around her and at least a dozen Nameks walking around town watching them with suspicion.

She scoffed at that, if there was anybody who should feel suspicious and uncomfortable here it was her. She had already been attacked by two Nameks while on the planet of supposedly all peaceful beings and any single one of them could be next, hell, she thought as she glanced up at the large Namek beside her, Piccolo could very well be working for whatever was going on here.

"Let's go." He finally bit out, turning to her and grabbing her around the waist without a word before taking off. Her eyes widened and before she could scream out, he put his hand over her mouth. "Don't." He commanded. "I won't have you hurting my ears." He adjusted his hold on the somewhat struggling girl. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, irritated.

She pushed his hand out of the way and looked at him worriedly. "Are you evil?" He rolled his eyes, sighing, focusing his eyes on the far horizon. She studied him, despite the fact that he was ignoring her, she determined that he was still himself; throughout so many evils that tried to take over the world in the dbz series, she rarely recalled him genuinely being taken over by evil forces when he wasn't willing.

First one that came to mind was Garlic Jr Saga where he simply pushed out the venom out of his neck, completely unaffected and freed Mr. Popo and Kami and proceeded to lay a beat down on an angry Garlic. She smiled at the thought, finally relaxing in his arms and looking over her shoulder down at the green scenery. He relaxed when she finally shut up and took her somewhere he knew the others would not appreciate.

Josie attempted to tilt her head to get a better view, the only thing that she could tell was that the general direction they were going to was filled with dark clouds. The island right beneath that seemed to be where they were headed and it looked... ashy, a smell already starting to waft to them of smoke and something else she couldn't identify. "Why did we come out here?" She asked him as they began their descend, a little faster than she was comfortable with, making her tense and press tighter to him. It was much worse than what she imagined an airplane felt like.

She took a deep breath and finally let him go, taking a step back, grateful that he hadn't pushed her. "Needed a break from the scene back at the ship-p..?" Her mouth dropped open when her eyes landed on the bodies being buried by a few solemn looking Nameks.

"They won't be happy I brought you." Piccolo said, expression tight as he took in the sight of innocent Namekians having to bury their loved ones after the disrespectful way they were set up on display for Goku and company. "But you need to see what your people consider insignificant story telling." He bit out, hatefully. "Go on," He goaded. "See what lives you like to play with." She shook her head, in shock, her back to him with eyes fixated on the bodies. "No? Oh that's right, according to you, you can't do anything about it, right?" He mocked. "Couldn't do anything to stop them or Dende forbid, lift a finger here to help us figure this out. **LOOK**!" He demanded, his deep growling voice reverberating. "Look at the faces you've been choosing to look past so you could play with Trunks and Goten like a bunch of overgrown children when you could be helping these innocent people!"

She could faintly feel her legs shaking but was barely able to feel her body as her head began to pound furiously.

"..." Despite his attempts to stay angry at her, to feel any satisfaction in finally showing her the seriousness of what they were trying to face while on this planet; he could still not bring himself to feel pleased that she finally seemed to be grasping the seriousness of the matter.

He just felt... cruel.

"Josie." He called roughly. He ignored the worried looks even the other nameks were giving her and went around her, blocking them from her view and took her shoulders. "Hey." He called, irritated. "Look at me." Seeing no reaction, he cursed under his breath and quickly picked her up before flying off quickly.

...

earth:

"Have you ever done this before?" Matt asked, feeling a little hesitant about attacking as he loosely held up his fists, standing a few feet away from Valerie who stood, dumbfounded, watching the other two students sparring.

Hercule stood at a distance, palm on his face in frustration. He jogged over to the two students not fighting and dismissed Matt, sending him to dual with the other two.

"Kid..." He started, frustrated. "You already failed with the weights, you couldn't keep up with the others in a running exercise and you only did thirteen push ups. I barely felt the punch you threw at me and now you're too scared to fight one of my students." He summarized, frustrated. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

"...Thirteen is pretty normal for people." She weakly defended. "I don't even think Josie can do two push-ups!"

"Who?" He asked, confused.

"Never mind.." She mumbled.

"Hey dad!" Videl called, waving as she approached them. "Hey Valerie." She greeted happily, as she neared them. "Ready to go? it's my night to cook dinner tonight and unlike Chichi, I need a bit more time to prepare to get it the way she likes it." Valerie breathed a sigh of relief and nodded enthusiastically, ready to get the heck out of there.

She didn't remember blushing so consistently before for so long. "I'll just get my stuff, it's just inside the house-"

"You leaving?" Matt and Dash jogged over, sweaty and smiling happily.

"Yeah-" Videl glanced at them.

"Don't worry about it, i'll go get your stuff, meet me in the car in a few?" Videl asked rhetorically, "That way you can say goodbye to your new friends." She offered, kindly, giving them a brief smile before heading off, preventing Valerie from disagreeing.

"..Sure." Valerie said shrugging at Videl's retreating back, turning more towards the guys.

"Pumpkin!" Hercule shouted, running after Videl, intent on asking her about his granddaughter.

"So... you weren't from Master Hercule's Dojo at all, were you?" Dash asked, grinning.

"Gee, how'd you guess?" Valerie asked rhetorically, embarrassed. "Believe it or not, I'm not so bad where I come from.." At their confused expressions, she shook her head, "Never mind. I'm just a little out of my league here."

"Well, it was really nice to meet you Valerie." Matt said kindly. "I enjoyed running around ya a few times on the track." He said grinning, earning himself a glare.

"Yeah, thanks for that, that was really, truly fantastic; I appreciated that, highly." She remarked, sarcastically making him laugh. "Really appreciated the ring indentation on my cheek too by the way." She added, rubbing her right cheek with a light wince. His expression soured a little and he grimaced, scratching the back of his head anxiously.

"I'm really sorry about that, I'm left handed, I didn't think about it." He said apologetically, rubbing his left hand's ring finger where a gold simple band sat.

"I'm just giving you a hard time." She assured, smiling. "It wasn't so bad."

"It better not have been, I was holding back! I know you've got more in you than that." He smiled back. "You should see my wife's ring!" He commented, shaking his head in disbelief. "That would have left more than just that tiny imprint."

"Ugh I can imagine." She laughed. "I've fought before with a girl or two wearing rings and," She shook her head. "Not pleasant." He grinned.

"I really hope this isn't the last time I see you." He said. "You made today a lot more fun than usual."

"No kidding." Dash commented. "You took most of Mr. Satan's attention so he wasn't as hard on us as he usually is. Thank you for being so bad." Valerie shook her head, unable to believe that she so badly failed at keeping up with the the clown of the dbz series. Matt punched Dash's arm making him cry out and run off to talk to the other less violent fighter.

"Ignore him," He said insistently. "You really did well for your first time here." He attempted to assure, smile never leaving his features. "So we are agreed. Rematch sometime?" He asked, hopeful. She nodded, grinning as she reached out to shake his hand.

"Absolutely, bye Matt." He nodded, waving once more before jogging to go jump in a tussle the other two had wrapped themselves in. Valerie went to the entrance of the house and said her final goodbyes to Hercule, apologizing profusely for her lack of experience. She had to give him credit, she thought, as she walked towards the car; He was actually a lot more patient than she had imagined and not as much of a goofball when there were not cameras everywhere.

He was almost...normal.

She shuddered at the thought, grinning as she got into the car, relaxing into the seat, thankful to finally be headed home. When they got back to Capsule Corporation Videl went directly to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner, having briefly informed Valerie that the girls were upstairs watching a movie. The first thing Valerie did was jog upstairs to her room where she happily change her shirt to a baggy loose white t-shirt before walking aimlessly back downstairs. She passed through the kitchen and out to the backyard, considering exploring the insides of the Gravity Chamber but stopped short when she saw Chichi beautifully executing a Kata.

She stood off to the side, impressed at how calm, focused and fluidly the older woman moved. Chichi was very well aware of the fact that she was being watched but chose to ignore it for a few more minutes as she finished up, before turning to smile at the girl; wiping off a light bead of sweat from her face with a discarded towel nearby.

"When did you get home?" She asked, conversationally as she wiped off.

"Only a few minutes ago." Valerie explained, going to a nearby table and grabbing a water bottle Chichi had likely placed there earlier and walked to over to give it to her.

"Thank you." Chichi said graciously as she opened it and took a healthy swig. Feeling a bit more refreshed with the drink, she finally asked her what she was dying to ask, "How did it go?" She asked curiously.

Valerie scrunched up her face and shook her head, not wanting to think about it already. Chichi laughed, the sentiment coming up loud and clear.

"I thought as much." Chichi admitted, walking over to the table that Valerie had taken the water bottle from and grabbing two wrist bands. She brought them over to Valerie, handing them to her.

"What's this?" Valerie asked, confused as she studied the items in her hands.

"I thought it might not work out with the big Monkey man." Chichi explained. "I got ready incase you wanted to try with me instead." Valerie's eyes widened, mouth dropping.

"W-what?" She asked, heart beginning to race with excitement. "You're kidding me..?" Chichi shook her head, taking the wrist bands out of her hands.

"No, I'm completely serious. I've begun training you in the kitchen, I see no reason why I shouldn't train you in martial arts, as well. I trained Goten too, you know," She added the little tidbit of information, making Valerie smile.

"I know." She said in wonder. "Wow, thanks ...Chichi?" She asked, a little confused as to why the older woman was putting putting the wrist bands on her, immediately startling as her wrists weighed her straight down to the ground.

Chichi rubbed the back of her neck nervously, smiling down at the girl struggling to get back up.

...

Once they were far enough from the disturbing scene, Piccolo chose another relatively desolate island and landed there, pulling away to get a good look at her. Josie swallowed with some difficulty, head slowly moving around to take in their new surroundings. "You with me?" He asked, feeling somewhat on edge after the last few minutes. Her eyes slowly came back to his for a moment before going back down to the ground.

"Yeah.." She said quietly. "Let's just go back to the ship please." He studied her for another moment before nodding, picking her up and flying quickly towards the ship - wanting to drop her off and get away from her and the guilty feeling inside of him, as soon as possible. When they arrived Josie went directly to her room, locking it, and staying within its small confines for the next few hours.

Around dinner time Goku and the others came back and everyone was gathered before dinner, other than Josie.

"Is it possible that they are planet hopping?" Trunks asked his mother and Goku mostly. Goku knew the instant transmission technique, which easily could have been taught to many other species and groups of people; he hoped that if that were not the case, maybe his mother would have an explanation as to how these villains were physically disappearing out of sight, leaving no trace on the land.

"It's possible." Bulma mumbled, distracted, glancing at the entrance when Goten came in. "Any luck?" She asked him, hopeful.

"She says she's not feeling too good, that she'd come down in a little." Goten repeated back. Bulma sighed, shaking her head.

"That's what she said before too." She said. "I'm worried, do you think she caught a bug?" She asked her son, obvious concern written on her face as she mentally went over the shots they had administered to everyone onboard; could she have missed something?

"You need to stop coddling the girl." Vegeta scolded, looking out the window, tense, wishing that whatever this thing was would show it's cowardly face already. "She'll come down sooner or later, let's move on to more important matters."

They decided that Goku and Trunks would be taking the 'night' shift, taking turns walking throughout the ship and outside of it, keeping their senses on alert for any abnormality while the others slept. Trunks had pressed his ear more than once to Josie's door, knowing she was in there alone; he could vaguely feel her ki and had himself made sure to leave dinner outside of her door. He was glad to see, a few hours later when he had passed by there again the food was no longer in the hallway.

'Morning' for the Z fighters came and Bulma was the first to wake, not having gotten a full night's sleep, much to Vegeta's annoyance. She was up and in the kitchen, quietly readying breakfast and making some much needed coffee for the crew. Trunks came into the ktichen, looking absolutely exhausted.

Bulma gave her firstborn a sympathetic smile and signaled him over. "Is that wonderful coffee?" Trunks asked, nearly drooling at the thought of drinking something that would give him energy. She shook her head.

"No, son, you need to get to sleep, you can have something to eat but it's right to bed with you after that." He yawned, nodding, as the others came in and began taking their seats one after another. He stood next to her by the counter, eating while standing next to her the way Josie normally would, talking quietly amongst themselves as the others began to dig in to their own meals.

"That was great, Bulma, thank you." Goku said, stretching his arms over his head as a yawn loudly came out of him. "Ready to sleep, Trunks?" Trunks nodded, sighing.

"Am I ever.." He mumbled. They heard a clanking noise and a curse outside in the hallway and they all stood, tense because they couldn't feel the ki of whoever was approaching.

Josie appeared at the entrance with a handful of awkwardly held papers, mumbling to herself, stopping when she saw everyone standing tensely.

"Damn it." Vegeta growled in annoyance. "Woman, build her a damn bell to wear around her so we don't blast her into oblivion the next time she walks through the door because we cannot sense her forsaken stunted energy!" He said angrily, sitting back down roughly and going back to his food.

"..Stunted?" Josie muttered quietly, offended. Those were terms she usually only used on Valerie, no one had ever referred to her as that and she bound herself biting back a mean retort. She shook her head, continuing to mutter to herself.

Bulma silently studied the young teenager in her care. Her pony tail was disheveled, looking like someone had rubbed a balloon against it for a few minutes; bags underneath her eyes evident, wearing what she had been wearing yesterday but other than that, no runny nose, no coughing, no sign that she had been sick, she just looked tired.

"How are you feeling?" Bulma asked, taking a step forward. Josie's eyes quickly came up to hers and instead of responding she struggled to maintain all the papers in her hand as she made her way to the kitchen table; moving a complaining Goten's plate out of the way and placing her papers down.

"I know what we're facing." She declared, crossing her arms defensively as everyone stared her in shock. "..Or at least I know where we can find them." She frowned. "I think.."

"Your lack of conviction is really encouraging." Piccolo said, a few feet away from the table himself, as usual, leaning against a wall with only a cup of water in hands.

"What?" She asked, surprised.

"Josie," Goku called, eyes pitying as he smiled at her. "I don't think you got very much sleep either last night did you?" She shook her head passionately, her sleep had nothing to do with what she was trying to say.

"Sweetheart, it's not your responsibility to find this thing." Bulma attempted to soothe, putting her plate of food on the counter behind her and taking a step towards the edgy looking girl.

"Maybe you should try to get some sleep this morning?" Gohan suggested, as he stood up and offered her his seat.

"Bulma is right." Goten said quietly, noting her crestfallen look. He stood up, placing an arm around her downcast shoulders. "What on earth made you think you needed to solve this for us?" He tried to ask playfully, giving her a little shove with his own body, attempting to inspire the little spitfire of a girl that always lay right under her surface.

"We're wasting time, let's go." Piccolo told the others, heading for the door, followed shortly after by the rest of the warriors, except for Goku who went towards Josie, kindly patting her hand.

"We will figure this out, Josie, don't you worry." He assured, yawning once more and giving the others a wave as he went to bed for a few hours.

"Gotta go." Goten said, rubbing Josie's arm once more before heading out. "WAIT UP GUYS!" Trunks and Bulma shared a look. Josie looked torn up, her eyes fixated on the table, thoughts seeming miles away; She looked so hurt.

"Jo..?" Trunks called her, somewhat nervously. Josie licked her dry lips and finally raised her head. "Come-on, let's take you to bed." He said insistently, turning her around and with an arm around her he led her out of the kitchen without a struggle. Bulma shook her head when they were all gone, doubting her decision to have brought Josie along with them.

"For a genius, I can do really stupid things sometimes.." She said self deprecatingly as she started to bring dishes to the sink, a frown on her face. Once she got them all in there, she turned half of her body back towards the table hesitantly, looking at the messy stack of papers Josie had accidentally left behind.

She sighed loudly, wiping her hands absentmindedly on a towel before walking to the table and picking up a paper in each hand, attempting to read the progressively messy scrawl; with circled words, names of dozens of villains they had faced, question marks and seemingly random thoughts that she seemed to signal via arrows and circles led to one possibility.

"Babidi?" She read aloud with skepticism.

* * *

**Note: **Guys. I have to thank you, on this last chapter, more than on ANY other chapter before you guys gave me sentences upon sentences of feedback and examples of what you liked, what you thought, what you want to see and equally what you don't want to see.

Ooh I can't even begin to tell you how much that meant to me, thank you.

_**PrincessPorsha:**__ !The line made you laugh! YES! I thought it was super cheesy but it made me chuckle and cringe so I couldn't help but keep it in there ;) thanks for the smile!_

_**Immaturechild:**__ Yes! Through writing this story Bulma and Chichi have become two of my favorite character in the dbz series and that was something I never would have expected to happen. I never intended to build Chichi/Val's relationship the way I have but I'm really enjoying writing some of their scenes together. _

_**Thomas Drovin:**__ Oh she definitely does love them and I love how protective she is of them, without either of two realizing how seriously she feels about their well being; both emotional and physical. As for the dream, I was surprised to receive as many chuckles as it apparently did because I was a tiny bit worried about offending someone. I've been having some super weird dreams lately and I decided to share one of them with the girls! ;) _

_**Duckie lover 151:**__ Aw no problem :) thank you for your concern with reviewing, it does mean a lot or me to help what parts you are enjoying, but I'll never ask you to inconvenience yourself and go back to review. With that said, I am so glad you enjoyed 'Making Boxers blush' because I love that chapter and sometimes, I have a crushing worry that the only person I'm amusing at all is me! lol _

_**Clayton1998: **__You are the best, thank you so much for checking up on me and always reviewing. I always appreciate your feedback! thank you so much!_

_**Shiningheart of ThunderClan**__: Yeah, the time thing is kind of throwing me for a loop too, so I'm going to have to go back and do some mental math. I wish i could claim to have it timed it out perfectly but I'll be honest and admit I haven't. We've still got quite a few big and tiny adventures to go through beore we get to the end, however, so please don't worry :) I'll do my best to make folks happy, but I definitely do not mind hearing what you would like to see, so by all means let me know :)_

_**Maniikuu:**__ !You are so much like me it makes me laugh! I do the same thing all the time with some of the stories I read. I'm so glad we equally got amusement out of the friggin Freeza chair and the dream because I swear to you, I do worry all the time that I'm laughing completely alone lol. I'm stoked about Val getting some training too but I kind o secretly do love making them look foolish in this world lol this story is not at all about making these girls look cool (as many others are) they are my fantastic losers and I'll keep them looking silly as long as it amuses everyone :) _

OH and more than one person brought up the new character, Matt. I'm so sorry but I had to throw you all for a loop on that one, I'm sure if you guys noticed on this chapter, that Matt though young, is in fact, married and unavailable :) I just figured that'd be a curveball you guys weren't expecting. I'm surprised at how welcoming you all were towards this character, so I definitely will not have it be the last time he appears, I promise!

Please tell me your thoughts on the content, with all the reviews and the feedback I got I became really motivated to get this to you guys because of the 7 wonderful reviews I received. Thank you all!


	28. Chapter 28: If I didn't know any Better

**Disclaimer**:Happy Sunday ya'll! incase any of you were wondering, I still own no part of DB/Z/GT all it's characters belong to Akira Toriyama!

**Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to TFSrules for reviewing every chapter of this story. I'm blown away, thank you!**

**Dude Where's My World**

Revised

**Chapter 28**: If I didn't know any better

"The short wrinkley guy?" Trunks asked his mom, perplexed, as he took a sheet of paper from her with the messy drawings and scribbles of notes. She had gone to his room before he went to sleep and showed him the notes, wanting his opinion. "This high?" He asked as he sat on his bed, gesturing to only about three feet off the ground.

Bulma nodded, sitting on Goten's bed across from him, "That's what she thinks." She shrugged. "She has other names on here too. She has a few theories in here too as to where they could be hiding. I just don't..." She studied the space on the bed beside him with a frown, shaking her head. "I don't understand where this sudden need to figure this out for us came from. What makes her think that this is her job?"

Trunks shook his head. "I don't know." He said with a sigh, not feeling quite as ready to go to bed anymore. He waited till his mother left the room before getting up and heading to Josie's room quietly, wanting to check up on her but not wanting to bump into his mom again for fear of her sending him back to his bed like a child. He knocked for a few seconds on Josie's door before carefully opening it.

From his spot at the door he could see Josie was in bed, blankets up to her chin. He quietly stepped into the room and sat on the bed across from hers. The first thing he noticed was how tired she looked. He also noted - with some disappointment - that the tray of food he had brought her the night before was on the end table, untouched. He shook his head but wasn't very surprised, despite the fact that she was known as a little bit of a bully, Josie cared a lot more about the happenings around her than she let on. If her behavior since arriving on Namek didn't prove it, he didn't know what did. Trunks sighed, rubbing his own eyes with his palms, tiredly.

He glanced over at her, wishing he could just stay in here again incase she stirred or needed anything but, of course, his mother was stuck on propriety. What his mom didn't know was that, Josie had been the one to ask him to spend the night in the room in the first place, he recalled with a smile. As a matter of fact, chances were that Josie herself probably didn't even remember that, having been so drugged up on pain killers. His shoulders moved with a silent chuckle, the memory leaving a smile on his lips as he got up.

"Goodnight." Trunks murmured, smiling tiredly as he left the room; knowing that he at least needed to take a short nap, if he was to be of any use.

As soon as Trunks left the room, Josie sat up slowly in bed, eyes on the door. She figured that he would at least check up on her once and luckily, Trunks was even more tired than she was, so she doubted that he would come back. She smiled as she got up and turned her body towards the other bed, putting on her shoes, intending on finding someone to talk too about her theories, someone that would believe her.

"I hope you're home, Val." She mumbled, tiredly, as she put on her second shoe and started walking out the door as she fixed her pony tail in an attempt to not look like a sleep deprived looney. "Last thing I need is for her not to believe me too because of my out of control hair." She muttered, unable to get over the feeling of annoyance and hurt as she pushed down her hair. They had treated her like a child, like an idiot child who had no idea what she was talking about. "I saw them grow up for crying out loud." Josie leaned her hair out of the room and looked in either direction, grateful not to see anyone. "I would have a better idea than any of them.." She continued to mumble with a frown as she walked down the hall, trying to calm down, not wanting the same resentment she'd felt earlier to begin bubbling inside of her again.

She jumped into the cockpit, closing the door behind her and attempted to call Capsule Corp. It rang seemingly forever and as she rubbed her face in frustration, thinking that no one would pick up, color finally burst upon the screen and Bra's cheerful face appeared.

"Josie!" She shouted, excitedly. Josie immediately brought her index finger to her lips, indicating that she should be quiet. Bra tilted her head, curiously. "Why? what's up?"

"If your family sees me awake, they'll hang me." Bra grinned mischievously.

"Such a trouble-maker." Josie finally cracked a smile for the young girl.

"You know me." She agreed. "Is Val around, grasshopper?" Bra seemed to think about it and nodded.

"I think so, let me go check, she might be out back with Chichi. I have sooo much to tell you about-" Bra startled, looking off to the side where Valerie was coming in to the room. "Hi Val." She greeted, grinning. "What are you doing here?"

"Chichi is off buying groceries for lunch later, I figured right now was as good a time as any to play a video game I've been dying to try out from your brother's collection." She explained as she entered the room. "I'm terrified she'll get mad if she catches me doing something as 'useless' as video games." Bra shook her head.

"Such a butt kisser." Valerie glared.

"If you were older, I would flip you off." She informed. Bra stuck her tongue out receiving the same back from Valerie.

"Children..." Josie called, attempting to gather their attention. Both girls on the screen turned towards her, Bra grinning and Valerie looking shocked to see her.

"Josie." She said, surprised. "Hey dude." Josie nodded, smiling.

"Hey." Josie greeted. "Bra? you mind giving us privacy for a little?" Bra groaned, throwing her head back.

"Finee." The pre-teen pouted, getting up and leaving the room. Once Bra was gone, Valerie approached the camera, curiously staring at her friend from her home world.

"...How on earth do you look better and worse than the last time I saw you?" Valerie asked, jokingly, as she took a seat in front of the screen referring to Josie's lack of Freeza chair but the addition of dark circles under her friends normally bright eyes. Josie shook her head, the bad feeling at the pit of her stomach starting again.

"Val, things are just... I mean, I knew they would be crazy." Josie attempted to explain, licking her lips anxiously. "Because we've seen the show for so long and its so action packed, its a duh that it would be the same when we came here but.."

"Still caught you off guard?" Valerie offered.

"Yes! and there's so many dead people here and it's **so** different to see bodies on the screen in the show - you know that we've seen hundreds." Valerie nodded. "But to see them in person.." Valerie frowned at that.

"How the hell did you get close enough to see real bodies?" Josie shook her head, that was irrelevant.

"Val, they don't believe me. I'm trying to help and they don't believe me." Val scratched her head, confused.

"I don't understand, dude."

"I'm been wracking my brain..." Josie shook her head passionately. "I wish I would have had more time- if I would have known we were, somehow, coming here I would have prepared better but I don't know it all." She said, berating herself. "They still can't find the person responsible for this, Val." She said looking up at the screen. "And I'm trying but I'm not sure if I'm on to something or if I'm crazy and they certainly seem to think it's the crazy."

Valerie shook her head. "I thought you were going to just tag along for the ride, no one-"

"Don't give me their spiel, Val." Josie begged. "I already got it from them." She said pointing a thumb towards the rest of the ship. "I just need someone who doesn't think I'm crazy." Valerie nodded.

"Alright. What do you think it is?"

"...The who is confusing and I have a few ideas but it's more the where. They can't find this guy anywhere. They tried sky, they tried going through islands, no sign of him and they can't feel them out. I think..." Josie crossed her arms, feeling kind of silly for the idea. "I think they're in the water." Valerie scratched her neck thoughtfully, considering the option.

"I don't know any villain that has done that before." Josie agreed.

"I don't either, but it's very possible that this is someone new that we wouldn't know about anyway." Valerie nodded in agreement. "Or underground... I don't know but the problem is they won't listen to me. I swear, I don't think I have felt like I was being treated like such a kid since...since I was a kid!" She shook her head, arms crossed. "They just sent me to bed and told me to let the grown ups handle it."

"...**Have** you slept?" Valerie asked, concerned.

"I tried. I couldn't." Josie said with a frustrated sigh. "But do you think it's possible?" She asked, leaning forward.

"...Well, yeah." Josie nodded, relaxing into her seat once she said that. Even just hearing someone acknowledge her idea made her feel a little better.

"Good." She said aloud, exhaling. "How are you?" She finally asked, eyes briefly glancing Valerie before distractedly looking off to the side, hands calmly on her stomach.

"I'm alright." Valerie answered with a light shrug. "I'm enjoying being here a lot more than I thought I would. It's a bit more quiet without you guys but there's... always something going on." She said with a smile, curiously noticing that Josie was retying her shoes on the console. "But I can tell you more about that later, you should go get some sleep." Josie nodded in agreement, and Valerie began to straighten, heart rate beginning to pick up.

Valerie had seen that look on Josie before. "Dude?" Josie glanced up.

"Hmm?"

"...You're going to bed, right?" Josie looked her right in the eyes and nodded.

"Yes." She said simply. Valerie could feel her heart rate kick up a notch.

She was lying.

She knew this girl, she knew her mannerisms, her body language but more than anything she knew when she was lying. Valerie felt dread begin to creep up her body as Josie got up and off the chair. "See you later Val." Valerie shook her head immediately.

"No Jo-"Josie disconnected the call and quickly after unplugged the communication device in multiple places to make it difficult - or at least time consuming - to connect again. She took a deep breath and calmly left the cockpit, carefully going through the halls, hoping that she wouldn't bump into anyone.

Josie finally exited the ship, feeling like a pile of nerves as she breathed in a lung full of the fresh green smelling air in an attempt to calm her nerves. Really, all she needed was to do some thinking and at times, such as this moment, it felt impossible to do that on the ship. She knew what Valerie was thinking that she would do but she wouldn't go out seeking anything dangerous; she knew she was the least qualified person to try to deal with the threat plaguing the planet. She just needed to breathe and walk for a little while.

With that in mind she slowly set off, walking in the opposite direction of the town to avoid the looks and stares she would inevitably get. And before she knew it, Josie had instinctually began walking the path she had originally taken to get to the lake a mile or so from the ship. She carefully sat down at the edge of the water, the way she had when she sat at this very spot with Trunks, while he scolded her soaking wet form for coming way out here. She smiled at the memory of how annoyed he had been with her when he had pulled her out of the water but how he had still been nice enough to take off his coat for her when he realized she was cold.

She brought her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, amused at the realization that, out of all her new friends she had made in this existence, he would be the least likely she would mind being with right now, while she was frustrated. She scratched her head, not wanting to focus to heavily on that train of foreign thought and instead chose to lay on her stomach and study the water's reflective surface.

Was she really crazy in thinking that the monsters could be underwater? but she was unable to forget the strange blur of color she had seen underneath the water right before Trunks had shown up.

"I am crazy." She determined, shaking her head.

_but what if you're not? _

The unbidden thought came into her mind naturally, making her frown at the still water as if it were somehow to blame for the thoughts. She slowly sat up and began to take off her shoes; she was adamant that she would not go more than a foot or so into the water. She wasn't looking for trouble but there was a build up of adrenaline beginning to seep into her system pushing her to just... look under the water's surface and see if she saw that flash of color again.

...

**earth**:

"JOSIE!" Valerie shouted angrily at the screen, her closed fists slamming on the desk.

"...uh...Val?" Bra asked, surprised to hear the language coming out of Valerie's mouth. She had gone to the bathroom just down the hall and was primping, trying to buy some time until she thought the two girls might finish talking so she could join the conversation. "Are you okay?"

Valerie turned to her, looking somewhat panicked. "Do you know how to work this thing?" Bra nodded, stepping closer and attempting to reconnect them to the video call set up on the ship.

"That's weird..." Bra mumbled as she read the error codes popping up. "The connection was lost. Everything is fine on this end," She recapped for Valerie who stood behind her, biting her nails anxiously as she paced. "It's on their end. Did something happen?" Bra asked, a little worried because of Valerie's behavior.

"...I don't know." Valerie said honestly. "I just... the way she looked, she was going to do something stupid and DANGEROUS." She added to wipe the smile off Bra's face. "Can you help me reconnect to the ship?" Bra remained seated, pensively looking at the monitor.

"...Maybe." Bra finally said, looking a little more determined. "Give me a few minutes, we'll need help." Valerie nodded as Bra quickly left the room.

"Don't do anything stupid, man." Valerie mumbled to herself, her worried eyes coming back to the screen every few minutes.

...

There was nothing this time, Josie determined. There had been something that the sun was bouncing off of that day, _kind of like a dragon ball_, Josie surmised. The dark green and ...what was the other color? white? it seemed pretty silly to go off of those two things alone but there was nothing down there that resembled white at all; not to mention the fact that it didn't look natural, it looked like material, such as from clothes.

_Yup, I'm crazy._

She thought, shaking her head as she started to swim back to the surface; intending on going back to the ship, slipping into bed to get a full eight hours of sleep, and letting the others handle the detective work from here on out. What the hell was she thinking she would find anyway?

As she was making her way back up to the surface she briefly felt the water beside her stirring and in a blink a large hulking figure appeared in front of her. She immediately reeled back, instinctually screaming out of shock and fear, only to immediately feel the irrepressible push of water into her mouth and lungs. Her body writhed under the water, attempting to surface for air but the dark figure kept her down, grabbing her and pulling her further in towards the lake floor.

...

**earth:**

"Giru here to help!" Giru declared as he came into the room after Bra. Valerie moved out of their way, having attempted herself for the third time to establish a connection.

"Ready, Giru?" Bra asked as she took a seat and the little robot automatically sat beside the tower, opening the panels in the back of his body to let a cable slither out that resembled an ethernet cable.

"Ready!" He said enthusiastically. Bra nodded, making a few boxes appear on the screen and typing in a few commands.

"Giru. I have the coordinates of the ship at ready, Bra." Giru informed her. Bra nodded, distracted on the screen. Valerie blinked at the uncanny resemblance the young girl had to her mother, especially at this moment, brow lowered in concentration, her lips turned down just slightly.

"Good." Bra mumbled. "But I'm not there yet, first I need a satellite access. Hold on." She typed in a few commands, attempting to jumpstart her link.

"If Giru may make suggestion, SES Americom AMC-6 is a good start." Bra nodded.

"AMC-6 it is." She said typing more furiously. "Got it. Now from here is the tricky part..."

...

It felt like she was being forced to sleep; It was the only way Josie could describe it. She had been fully awake and conscious a few minutes ago and though her mind had been fully awake, everything had begun to darken. It was probably the most horrifying thing she had ever experienced.

_Did I black out? _She wondered as she continued to rest in darkness. _That is so friggin weird... I don't think I've ever passed out. I had never even had a nosebleed before this - wait, what was that-? _Josie coughed and sputtered, gasping as she sat up. The first thing she identified was the racking fear she felt when she realized she wasn't on the ship; her heart thrummed in her chest as she shuddered both from trepidation and the biting cold air.

She quickly pushed her hand against her mouth to try to mute the coughs that came. She grimaced, holding her pounding head, shakily running her other hand over her wet hair and body to make sure that nothing was missing. The dark figure was a Namek, that much she was sure of but he had come out of no where. She took an unsteady breath, hands hugging her body for warmth, trying to keep calm as she tried to figure where she could be. The cell she was in looked like a modified cave. Glancing once more towards the bars of her cell, she carefully got up and went towards the nearest dark wall and felt the rocky surface.

Now that she was calming a little from the knowledge that she was alone, she noticed that not only was her cell a cave, but a leaking one at that. She held up a shaking hand up towards a continual tiny drip of water. _We are in the water?_ She asked herself, surprised. She wiped her hand carelessly on her pants and crouched down, approaching the bars anxiously. She didn't know why she was alone but she definitely did not want to attract someone's attention.

There was no doubt in her mind now that they were in cave. To the right of the cell she was in she could only see rocky ground until it became too dark to see past it, but she could HEAR water. She licked her lips, nervously, turning her head to the left she only saw more terrain and... she backed up uneasily when she realized it was a Namek on the floor. It was possible that was the person watching over her, having decided to take a nap. She pushed herself against the wall beside the bars to keep herself out of view, hugging her knees tightly to her chest, hoping they hadn't caught her looking around.

After a few minutes of silence, she mustered up the courage to look back out again. From what she could see the Namek was in actuality very small; she narrowed her eyes as she thought she caught some silver beside the small Namek. _Chain? _She asked herself.

She shook her head, realizing that speculating on the matter was a waste of time; despite the fact that he may or may not be chained, this was her chance to escape. He was small enough to where she might be able to hold him off with a weapon but if she wasted any more time waiting for something to happen, others might come along. She quickly felt her form for the small case of capsules Bulma had prepared for her incase of an emergency. She felt them untouched in her pants pocket and breathed a sigh of relief, backing up back into the cells darkness and opening it up.

"Please don't hear this.." She quietly begged, closing her eyes in fear as she, as quietly as possible, opened a capsule. The click was the most audible noise but the puff of noise was relatively quiet in comparison. She tried to catch her breath, ignoring the stabbing headache she reached for the thick gloves that appeared alongside a cutting torch. She crouched close to the bars once more, glancing nervously at the small Namek that appeared to be sleeping, hoping against hope that he would not wake up. She turned her head as far as she could from the hot flame that emitted from the torch, focusing on cutting a small enough section for her to get out.

Two things happened within the next thirty seconds: one, just as she feared, the Namek woke up and stood, looking right at her. The second made her possibly even more terrified than she already was; the Namek was a child.

She tried to hurry as much as possible, afraid that the little child would shout for someone. "Done." She murmured, quickly turning the flame off and wiping a bead of sweat as she moved as fast as her racing heart in an attempt to put it all away. She shoved it back in her pocket and slipped through the small hole she made, ignoring her hair that clung to her face and scrapes on her skin from the uncomfortably hot bars. She briefly looked at the Namekian boy as she got back up and started heading towards the sound of water. She realized, somewhat disturbed, that the boy had been, in fact, chained to the ground like an animal and what made her feel even worse about walking away was the fact that he had not uttered a peep in protest as she started to escape.

She slowed down unwittingly, turning to look at his submitting eyes one last time. It was seeing that he looked resigned to being in those chains that made her fists clench and shaking her head in anger at herself for possibly about to get them **both** killed, she quickly turned around and ran towards the boy.

...

"Sending out radio waves now." Bra said aloud, receiving a nod from Giru who now also had a small satellite come out of his stomach that beeped every few minutes. "Come-on.." Bra drummed her fingers on the desk. "Bite something..." She muttered passionately. "Get a bite. Giru?" She turned to him, worried.

"I'm looking Bra." He assured. His body straightened. "Signal captured, system override completed, downloading software now."

"YES!" Bra cheered loudly. "Okay," She took a deep breath and turned back to the computer, typing in a few commands. "Tell me when you're ready Giru, one more." Valerie bit her fist nervously. They had been at this for over an hour now and though, yes, it was possible that this was all in her imagination and Josie had just gone to sleep, as she told her she would - she just couldn't believe it would be that easy.

"She's never that easy." Valerie muttered to herself. No, she knew that Josie was getting herself in trouble and if the others were completely unaware...

"Giru ready." Bra nodded quickly typing up more commands. "Radio waves sending now." Giru beeped for the next few minutes.

"So what's happening, exactly?" Valerie asked.

"Broken down to its basics: we got our satellite to connect to another one out in the heliosphere from there we are hopping onto another that should be close enough to Namek. They are in our quadrant so it shouldn't take more than to get my radio waves to the ship" She explained as simply as she could. "...It's likely that mom and Trunks would be able to do this better..." She admitted, embarrassed. "But it's the only way I could think of to get through." Valerie placed her hand on Bra's shoulder.

"This is amazing, you're doing great." Bra sighed, nodding.

"Giru located! Giru located!" Giru clicked excitedly, making both the girls shout in excitement. "Signal captured. System override initializing...Giru...initializing... Completed. Downloading sofware now, Giru."

"Ooh Giru, I don't how Pan could ever hit you, you are the absolute best." Bra said adoringly. "You are more than welcome to stay at Capsule Corp whenever you want, you little thing, you hear me? all the metal shards, scraps and tools you can eat for as long as you want 'em."

"Yum yum...metal, Giru's favorite." Giru said happily. "Downloading software complete." Bra turned back to the computer. "Can you get on the ships mainframe, Giru?" She asked, fingers poised. "I just need you to lock onto it and I can unlock it all." Giru nodded, his satellite moving to the left.

"Ship located."

"Perfect." Bra mumbled, typing quickly into the screen, images of the ship itself popping up as Bra overrode all firmware keeping her from accessing the ship's main console. "So glad mom is so good with leaving contact numbers for her incase of an emergency." Bra joked happily, glad that her mom facilitated finding the ship incase anything happened. "Access to ships intercom system? yes friggin please."

The computer read: connecting...

Valerie bit her knuckles, nervously, her heart in her ears as the blinking message continued to read the same message over and over, Connecting. Finally after a few more seconds, a crackling noise sounded in their speakers and the computer screen read,

**CONNECTED.**

* * *

Reviews:

Thank you:

_**Angel-DemonPrincess12**__: Thank you so much for the review and saying hey! I hope you keep R&R :) Enjoy!_

_**Mistress of Butterflies**__: aw, I really appreciate you taking the time to review! the Folgers line came out of no where but it made me chuckle too X) _

_**LycosTamer:**__ Ha! this website has done that to me once or twice too but I do appreciate all the ones I have received! they mean so much :) To answer your question though, yes, the normal Babidi saga has happened. It might not even BE Babidi who's on Namek ;) everyone will find out soon! _

_**Thomas Drovin**__: I have considered having Videl help them train so that may just happen yet! I don't know if she'll fully give up on training with Hercule because, really, who wants to say they were bested by HIS training? I sure wouldn't! so she might go back. As for Babidi, it's kind of up in the air, we'll see in the next few chapters who it is and how they are going undetected :)) _

_**Shiningheart of ThunderClan: **__lol! I'm glad I managed to surprise you! Yeah, you'll tend to see me trying to do that from time to time; I don't want to make the story too predictable, you know? ;) And I completely am with you on Josie and Piccolo. I think he's just really frustrated because he wants to help his people and is meeting nothing but dead ends everywhere he goes and here is this girl who claims to come from people who MADE them and yet she's goofing off with the others. He just didn't realize, much like Vegeta, and like many others to come, that they are just normal teenage girls. Made me sad for her too, to be treated like that by one of her favorite characters. I can't imagine how heart breaking that would be!_

_**Clayton1998:**__ I'm so glad! The idea honestly came to me from another review (shout-out to Thomas Drovin!) who jokingly said I should have her meet Hercule and that just gave me all ideas as to why she would meet him. _

_**Evalyd Yamazaki: **__Thank you so much for the review! I love hearing from people who just kind of picked this up and got on a kick for a few days reading them. I LOVE that because I do the same with many stories I like, so it's a huge compliment, thank you. I'm glad I've made you care for the boys! I love those two friggin kids (Because that's really what they are, big kids) and I wouldn't hurt them intentionally, very much :) I'll try to do right by them in the end! _

_**anon:**__ Thank you so much for reviewing! I absolutely adore that chapter too! It's one of my favorites! :))_

_**TFSrules: **__And I can't even begin to thank you for letting me into your mindset and experience as you read every chapter. I can't even tell you how much you blew me away. Everyday I kept telling myself there is no way they'll keep reviewing every chapter... and you did. t's been an awesome adventure for the the last few days reading your reviews as they pop up on my phone. Thank you so much. _

**I hope the story hasn't disappointed, I love YOU ALL. Thank you. Tell me what you thought of the chapter please.**


	29. Chapter 29: I believe

**Before anything else, you all deserve at least a short note of apology. I'm truly sorry for the delay, for some crazy reason, this chapter was really hard. I won't give away the content but you'll see why. I had days where I just sat and knew what was going to happen but I couldn't formulate the words. Hopefully it's content is not too disappointing and I'll eager await your feedback. **

**Disclaimer**: I certainly should not (and do not) own db/z/gt because if my updates are any indication I'd take...7 years to post existing content lol. Whoops.

**Warning**: This is probably the most graphic chapter up to date. I'll try not to have too many of those because I don't want this to turn into an emo sob story but there is a bit of violence here, skip over any chapters you have too.

**Dude Where's my World:**

Revised

_**Recap from Chapter 28**__: If I didn't know any Better._

"_Did something happen?" Bra asked._

"_...I don't know." Valerie said honestly. "I just... the way she looked, she was going to do something stupid and DANGEROUS. Can you help me reconnect to the ship?"_

* * *

_Josie realized, somewhat disturbed, that the boy had been, in fact, chained to the ground like an animal and what made her feel even worse about walking away was the fact that he had not uttered a peep in protest as she started to escape._

_She slowed down unwittingly, turning to look at his submitting eyes one last time. It was seeing that he looked resigned to being in those chains that made her fists clench and shaking her head in anger at herself for possibly about to get them __**both**__ killed, she quickly turned around and ran towards the boy._

* * *

-_"Giru located! Giru located!" Giru clicked excitedly, making both the girls shout in excitement. "Signal captured. System override initializing...Giru...initializing... Completed. Downloading sofware now, Giru." _

_Valerie bit her knuckles, nervously, her heart in her ears as the blinking message continued to read the same message over and over, Connecting. Finally after a few more seconds, a crackling noise sounded in their speakers and the computer screen read,_

_**CONNECTED.**_

* * *

**Now onto **

**Chapter 29**: I believe.

While the ship remained quiet, Bulma worked in her lab with a robot she'd pulled out to make Josie another whistle. She felt bad about the way everyone had treated her before, disregarding her theories the way they had and she intended to make peace with the young girl as soon as Josie got some much deserved sleep.

For now, she enjoyed the silence and put the finishing touches on a few new sets of whistles for her to irritate the boys with when she started feeling like her old self again.

"I'm sure she'll love that, right Hemsworth?" Bulma asked the robot rhetorically. The little claws of the robot faced her but not having a voice box, it did not respond and simply went back to work on the whistle laying on the table. Bulma smiled at him, fondly.

"..." Bulma heard a crackling noise on the overhead speakers, and looked up, confused. "Bulma?" Her eyes widened when she recognized the voice of Valerie, how the hell had she gotten on the ship? She quickly threw her tools down and ran out of the room and up the stairs, wondering where she was exactly. _"__**Trunks! Goku! Vegeta! Gohan! Piccolo - ANYONE."**_ Bulma stopped at the top of the stairs at that. She wasn't with Goku? then... how did she?

"_**I really hope someone can hear me! Josie disconnected the main video communicator! I don't know where she could have gone but I'm scared that she's in danger. PLEASE, go find her!**_**" **Bulma gasped and took off down the hallway, hearing her son's voice shouting further down the hall.

"_MOM!_"

"GOKU!" Bulma shouted, pounding on Goku's door before heading towards her son. She found him in the cockpit frantically connecting the video com system back in order.

"Mom where is she?" He asked, panic-stricken, eyes on the cables he was attempting to put back into place. "Mom? where the hell is she?" He asked again, his voice louder.

"I-I don't know. I'll go look in her room-" He shook his head angrily.

"I already went. She's not there." Bulma went to the other side of the console connecting the remaining wires. They pulled back and Trunks pressed a few buttons on the keyboard by the screen, attempting to connect back to earth and the others.

Seconds later they saw Bra, Valerie and Giru staring at them with relief.

"FINALLY - where is she?" Valerie asked, breathing heavily.

"We don't know." Trunks said grimly. "What did she tell you?"

"She said that.." Valerie shook her head, trying to remember but it was hard too with the adrenaline pumping through her body. "That she wanted to talk to someone who would believe her. We talked a little bit about her theories - she was talking about the bad guy maybe being under water?"

"Did she say she was going there?" He asked.

"She said she wasn't... but she had this look, I know that look, Trunks." Trunks nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"I'll find her." He promised simply, running out of the room and down the hallway where a confused Goku was just coming out of his room.

"Trunks, what's going on?" Trunks shook his head.

"Let's go, I'll fill you in on the way."

"No." Bulma said strongly as she ran past them.

"Mom there is no time for you to come!" Trunks shouted after her. "We need to go now."

Bulma whirled around, blue eyes angrily staring down her son. "Do you know where you're going, Trunks?" Bulma asked. "Where to start?"

He clenched his jaw and continued to just stare at her, acceding to her point. She nodded. "Then hold on one damn minute while I get a communicator on your watch so I can give you any information I find in her notes while you search."

...

"Alright friggin kid.." Josie said shakily, moving her wet hair out of the way as she studied the lock on the boys ankle. "W-what's your name?" She asked, experimentally yanking on the chains.

He studied her curiously for a minute before responding, "Puchi." She almost chuckled at that but thinking better of it, looked over his head to make sure no one else was around. She could see a door at least four yards away from where they were currently standing.

"Okay, Puchi, you speak some basic english, yes?" Puchi nodded, seeming undisturbed by her constant yanking, just looking at her curiously. "Good." She said, distractedly, glancing past him again, paranoid. "Do you know how many other people are here?"

"Four." Her stomach cramped painfully at that, she flinched, taking a shaky breath as she nodded.

"Are you okay?" He asked, surprised at her physical reactions of pain. She nodded quickly.

"Scared." She choked out laughing, quivering as she continued to yank. "This is no good." She swallowed, shakily fumbling for the capsule case. Eyeing him quickly she realized he looked just as afraid as she did. The ground beneath them was covered with dried blood and though he looked physically fine now, she could only imagine what they had done to him. The thought was enough to make her want to throw up; who would want to harm a child? she quickly reached for the axe, hoping to just remove the chain and get him out of there, cuffs and all. "Get your body as far away from the chain as you can." She warned as she raised up the axe. "You regenerate anyway, right?" She asked giving a weak laugh. "Joke." She explained at his panicked expression. "Bad joke... but joke." She shook her head, trying to focus on her aim.

"Bad joke." He repeated in agreement, nodding.

"Agreed, Uchi."

"Puchi." He corrected.

"I know." She admitted through a groan. "I'm just trying really hard to calm myself down so I don't accidentally chop a part of you you were hoping to keep." His eyes widened at that and he forced himself to stay very still and quiet while she concentrated. She took one more deep breath and brought it down.

Her heart nearly jumped out of her body in the process but she did it. She finally grinned, forcefully exhaling as she wiped beads of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "One down, one more to go. That... w-wasn't so bad."

"What wasn't so bad?" Josie froze at the foreign voice a few feet behind her. If the expression on Puchi's face was any indication, the person behind her was not someone she wanted to see. He looked so horrified... not giving herself time to think about it and regret it, she thrust the axe in Puchi's hands.

"Get out of those chains.." She whispered, knowing it really was no use, the other Namek would inevitably hear her anyway. She turned around, lungs heaving, trying hard to get the right amount of oxygen despite the nearly crippling fear she was experiencing. The namek looking back at her only smirked.

"We meet again." He remarked, pleased. She swallowed with some difficulty her eyes quickly scanning the large Namekian approaching her, trying to recognize him.

"...Cujo?" She asked, unsure. He stopped, the guess throwing him off balance. He recovered after a moment and glared at her menacingly, fists clenching at his sides.

"Kuji." He corrected slowly through clenched teeth.

"Kuji-Kuji!" The smaller Namek desperately reminded her, eyes wide, terrified of the quickly angering Namek.

Josie's eyes widened, nodding quickly.

"T-that was going to be my second g-guess.." She choked out, eyes wide, side stepping Puchi and backing up another step as the angry large Namek approached.

...

_on earth_

"Kuso - I could use something to calm my nerves.." Valerie said, her voice a bit shook up. Finally getting the others on the video com system had only served to heighten the fear and worry she had felt before and now that the screen was black and she's seen those mirrored looks of fear...

"I could help you break into my parents liquor cabinet next." Bra offered nervously receiving a glare from both Giru and Valerie. "I'm joking! I just... don't know what to do."

"Do not worry," Giru attempted to comfort them both with his tiny hands on each of their shoulders. "Trunks and Goku strong, Giru, they'll find friend." Bra exhaled loudly, looking just as miserable as Valerie felt.

"Do.. you really think she went out there?" Bra asked fearful.

Valerie stared off into the dark screen, not registering the question; after half a minute of silence she blinked and looked over at the young frightened girl and shook her head.

"I don't know." She answered simply.

...

"I'm s-sorry." Josie attempted quickly to mollify, hands up reflexively to keep the danger at bay. "I'm not supposed to be in this world and there's so many new names to memorize and I forget-"

"This worked out well." Kuji said simply, ignoring her unending banter and continuing his approach, calmly walking by Puchi and giving him a kick to stop him from freeing himself, enjoying Josie's flinch when the boy flew to the side and his chains violently pulled him back.

"Don't." She shook her head. He smiled.

"Don't what?"

"Don't hurt him...or me, please." She added taking a quick step back when he began to approach her again, glancing at her tarnished cell with minimal interest before focusing his full attention on to her.

"What are you?" He asked, curiously. Her eyebrows drew down in confusion as she continued to back up further into the cave.

"..I don't think I understand the question." He smiled.

"It does not matter, the master will find out soon enough." Her eyes seemed to gather some focus and she stilled.

"..Is it Babidi?" She asked, hesitantly.

She saw the smallest flicker of recognition on his face as the name registered in his mind; a nano second of surprise showing on his face before his scowl deepened at her instant smile.

"BOOYAH!" She whooped. "I KNEW IT!" She shouted, nearly jumping with her fist smacking the air above her in triumph, failing to see the flinch from the Namek and the growing rage at her celebration.

"eurgh...Shut...UP!" Before she could blink his enraged face was in front of her and the back of his hand connected with her cheek. Josie felt her cheekbone caving under the pressure for a second before her side and head exploded into agonizing pain. She had no idea when she had laid down but she was grateful to feel the cold rocky terrain beneath her face, despite the fact that it only enflamed her bleeding face and shoulder. She struggled to inhale properly as her eyes opened to find the world now horizontal. Her attempts to breathe properly only managed to inhale dust and debris that immediately had her chest coughing violently.

To get air back into her lungs she instinctively pushed up on her hands and only dropped back onto her elbows, her shoulders quivering violently with the effort to sustain her weight.

"...You're far more breakable than i thought." Kuji commented with curiosity as Puchi stared in horror at the struggling girl.

Ignoring the pain in her chest, as well as the the loud ringing in her ear she grimaced as she tried to push herself up to her knees, stopping right away with a groan to put a protective arm around her rib cage that felt like it was cracking with every tiny movement she made.

The distorted and distant voice of Puchi sounded in her ringing ear, "_Please no!_" Josie took in a shaky breath, confused, she turned her head slowly to see the larger Namek approaching her. A sound emitted from her throat as she frantically pushed herself up with her hands, stumbling back with a cry when her body loudly protested the movements.

She flinched as she tightened her jaw against the pain, continuing to push herself into a standing position with the support of the rough cave underneath her scraped hands; her heart desperately pumping in her chest as she quickly took in the scene. She could finally piece together that the hit he'd apparently landed had flown her clear across the room and the reason the side of her face that had not been hit was throbbing was because she'd smacked straight onto the unforgiving contours of the cave behind her.

"You've no idea how much I wanted to do that." He said stopping with a smile at her slowly increasing fury. "What's the matter?" He asked mockingly, tilting his head to the side. "Did THAT hurt your feelings?" His head turned slowly in the direction she limped in, attempting to move quickly away from him towards her cell. He smiled in amusement and confusion. "Where are you going?" She stopped in front of the discarded axe and quickly picked it up,swaying back a little with dizziness, making him laugh out loud. "What are you possibly going to do with that?" He asked, grinning as he relaxed, crossing his arms to watch her. "You wasteful organism." He mumbled with disgust as she started moving forward again, determined. "He was wrong about you." He said simply. "You're a weakling."

"I'm so damn tired of being called that.." Josie mumbled, cringing as she limped to where Puchi was and slammed the axe down onto his chains without a second thought, finally freeing the young boy. "Rip off your ears." She quickly whispered to him as she pushed him in the direction of the water. He quickly did as she asked, confused, turning his head back to keep his eye on Kuji.

The Namek watched in amusement, eyes past her to the young boy. "He thinks he's getting away." He said with some merriment.

"Before you do whatever you're about to do." His eyes came back to her as he walked to her with a calm that only made her visible shaking more noticeable.

"Yes?" He urged, amused, staring down at her.

"...F*** you." She said middle finger pointed up at him. As his expression dropped she took a deep breath that hit the bottom of her diaphragm and forced it right back out with every ounce of energy she had in her body into the loudest scream she could muster making Kuji's eyes widen and his mouth drop as he stumbled back a step and cried out in pain, hands attempting to no avail to protect his ears. She braced one foot back and swung the axe blindly into his side, purple blood quickly spurting out in droves as the shocked Namek could only stare at her.

She backed up as he dropped to his knees, having to force the bile that threatened to work its way up, back down. Face and body throbbing more and more every second, she quickly turned, ignoring her body's protests as she desperately ran for the water, thankful to no longer be able to see Puchi, hoping that that meant the child had gotten away. Her heart raced in her ears as she tried to push her body that felt ten times heavier than normal, forward, terrified that she would trip and fall or worse, that she would black out before she could get to the water and out to the others.

Trunks and the others had to be looking for her at this point, didn't they? but what if they were sleeping? what if they hadn't woken up and didn't know she was gone? No. She refused to think that way. She pushed against the ground harder, her thighs burning fiercely as a lump raised in her throat. She'd get to the water, swim out, get on dry land and she'd find a way to get someone's attention so that they could take her home, but she needed to get to the water first.

She felt her heart jump out of her chest and she couldn't help but cry out, eyes blurring when she heard Kuji roar behind her, the noise making her nearly jump out of her skin. She was now only a few feet away from the waters edge and she threw herself desperately towards it, slamming into the stinging water for a brief few seconds before she felt her ankle grabbed. Her eyes widened in the water and she inhaled a mouth full of it in her attempt to scream out as she was dragged back forcefully.

...

Valerie finally managed to pull herself away from the others with the excuse that she needed to use the toilet. Instead she turned on the faucet full blast and cupped her hands underneath the water, staring at her overflowing hands before splashing herself in the face, ignoring the slight shock to her system as she stared at herself in the mirror.

How the hell had this happened? How had they come here of all places, like this.

"Normal." She muttered out, running a hand in irritation over her hair. She remembered what it was like to fight. She remembered violence and adrenaline, she remembered the trouble she'd constantly gotten herself into in her world. She remembered the pain of a connecting punch to the rib cage as she carefully ran a hand over her healed mid section, she remembered what it felt like to break bones.

She grabbed a towel roughly from the towel rack to the side and wiped her face. That had been home though, she didn't want to know what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a landed punch **here**. What kind of damage that could do to their fragile bodies. What damage Josie could be receiving right at that moment. She instinctively tightened a fist at the thought, sighing.

"We don't friggin belong here." She mumbled, turning away from the reflection and leaning back on it as she blankly stared at a small crack on the wall never feeling so helpless in all of her life.

...

Josie's body flew like a rag doll back into the innards of the cave; rocks and formations cut and penetrated her skin as her back painfully connected with the cave walls. She groaned as she slid down, tear filled eyes opening painfully to see two creatures she had never seen before come out from further within the cave, glancing between her and the Namek.

She grimaced as she attempted to turn her body in a way that didn't hurt so much; but every part of her body, down to her scraped and bloody hands were screaming. She took trembling small and shallow breaths, weary eyes on the newcomers, unable to make out what they were all saying to each other but in between the loud ringing in her ears she could make out that one was laughing.

"_Really Kuji? a girl did this to you?_" The tall purple alien with the black "M" on his forehead asked, mockingly of the Namek that still tried to catch his own breath by the waterside, back still to them as he held his injured side, a warning growl forming at the back of his throat.

"Don't laugh, you know what the Master said." The other orange alien with a round head full of red spots, warned, glancing at the groaning girl in the corner as he made his way to the cell they'd kept her in before. "Look." He pointed with a thumb. "For a creature with no ki, that's impressive." The purple alien looked at it now too, seeming impressed.

"Do you think what the Dr. suggested is true?" The purple alien asked, curious.

"I... don't... give a damn." Kuji growled as he finally stood up, eyes blazing as he purposely headed to her.

"Kuji.." The orange alien warned, stepping forward. "The Master does not want her dead." He reminded with an edge, ready to put the weaker creature in his place if he did not obey.

"Give me five minutes. That's all I want." Kuji requested.

"Alright." He said calmly, noticing Kuji's attention was obsessively on the struggling girl whose false bravado was completely gone now at his words, her face paling. The orange creature studied her with curiosity, slowly nodding. "Watch yourself." He warned, eyes coldly going back to Kuji. "If I find another axe in you, i'll help her finish the job properly." Kuji ignored them keeping his gaze on Josie's horror filled eyes.

...

"Trunks, I still cant sense her." Goku said seriously as they hovered the sky.

"I know." Trunks sighed, eyes frantically scanning the landscape for any sign of movement. "And the problem is you typically won't unless you're a few feet from her." He reminded.

Goku shook his head. "She still couldn't have gotten that far on her own." Trunks swallowed painfully at those last three words: _on her own. _What dozens of implications one could take from those three words. Trunks had a feeling that Josie was not alone at the moment and what that feeling he couldn't shake off was screaming at him was that,

whoever she was with was a danger to her.

"Come-on, we're wasting time up here, either she's long gone or nearby." Trunks nodded, allowing himself to drop rapidly to the ground.

...

Josie's body dropped back down with a thump, groaning.

She laid a wet, crumpled heap on the floor, hair matted to her face and her tiny fisted hands by her face in a feeble attempt to defend herself from any further onslaught.

She would occasionally catch a glimpse of a stalactite on the ceiling and could't help but find herself wishing it fell straight onto Kuji's head. Her vision blurred as she stared up at it, smiling despite the pain it caused. It almost looked like it shook too, she thought with amusement, like it wanted too; oh but how good it felt to dream about it, she thought with a hoarse chuckle rumbling in her chest as her mind conjured up the corniest and cheesiest lyrics to an irritating country pop ballad called 'Dreamer' where a pretty blonde girl holds a guitar and sings about castles, kings, and horses. Oh what she wouldn't give for a horse to fall on Kuji right now...

Her shoulders shook with the effort it took not to laugh. Kuji growled with irritation burying his long nails into her shoulder as he picked her up in a crushing grip.

"What the hell is so funny?" He spat out, digging his nails in deeper making Josie gurgle out a cry; her mind shutting of entirely to everything but that all encompassing pain. He seemed to realize how much blood was starting to ooze from his crushing grip and he sneered, releasing his grip, hearing the crunch in her shoulder as she dropped onto a heap on the ground, mouth open in a silent scream as her furiously trembling hand gripped her shoulder. He waved his hand to the side to ride himself of the warm coat of blood on his fingers with disgust.

Josie sitting body swayed forward, her eyes starting to roll back into her head. Her forehead hit the ground lightly as she fought desperately to stay conscious. She shook her head slowly, eyes pressed shut.

How had things gotten this bad so quickly? She knew it was only a matter of minutes before she lost her grip on the world around her. But what would happen then? Would she pass out? go back home? maybe... die? She shakily swallowed with some pain, eyes pressed shut as Kuji approached her again. "Pleasepleaseplease."

"Please what?"

"Send me back, send me back home, I want to go home-" She gasped, ignoring him, hoping she could will him away. "Home, home, I want to go home-"

"I think you've managed to disappoint even the lowest of expectations." He said smiling, finally feeling completely calm and in control. "You're insignificant." Her eyes opened suddenly, sitting back up in one quick angry motion as she stared at him hatefully, holding her shoulder.

"I may not be anything that can hurt you," She gritted her teeth, swaying. "Here." She added, eyes fastening onto his. "Oh but I can damn well make sure you existence is painful, your history screwed up-" A violent cough dropped her back onto her hands but she clenched her hands on the ground and continued. "A-and your final destination the most violent place possible." She snarled, kept steady and calm by the fact that the black spots in her vision were only getting bigger and she would be loosing consciousness in a minute.

She could see the rage coming back into his eyes but she couldn't stop herself from continuing, "They don't even have a hell in this plane as bad as the one I'm going to make sure is created **just for you** when I go back to my world, y-you sick moth-AAAH"

...

Trunks shot straight up out of the water, ignoring the chills he was feeling as he looked around while Goku jumped from island to island trying to feel her out. Seeing nothing new only made him growl with frustration as he raced to another body of water and dived again.

After another minute he came back up, higher this time. "You need to relax, Trunks." He scolded himself angrily with a grunt. "You're too tense, you'll miss something this way." He took a nervous breath attempting to loosen the rock tight muscles on his back and relax his drawn fists. He flew over another body of water, glancing over at Goku who shook his head to indicate no luck.

"Oh I hate this so much.."

"_Trunks, do you copy?_" Trunks glanced at his watch and distractedly pressed the com button, continuing his search.

"Yeah, mom?"

"_Son, I've been going through some of her notes, this may be nothing... but she mentioned seeing something weird underneath the surface of a nearby lake she took a dive in apparently on the day we landed_." She paraphrased with some confusion. "_I was with her all day and I don't remember that, but she said she stayed with you for a while after that and before you two went to a really tall tree. Does any of this ring a bell to you?_"

(_**How did I know I'd find the calf straying from the rest of the cattle?" Josie screamed in surprise, turning every which direction, looking for the source of the voice. She shielded her eyes as she looked up and recognized Trunks shoes. Her eyes narrowed as he descended from the sky, his arms crossed and a frown on his face.**_)

"_Trunks?_" Bulma called.

He ignored his mother, turning off the communicator and flying at top speed to that very spot, unable to get her voice out of his head from that day. She'd been so excited when they'd landed.

(_**Trunks nodded and offered his hand to Josie. "Are you ready for this?" He asked her, smiling. Josie shook her head wildly.**_

_**"Hell no." She admitted, grinning. "Let's go!" She shouted excitedly, holding the blade of grass tightly to her chest.**_)

Goku had immediately noticed his change in direction and followed after him without a word. Trunks flew low near the water's surface, water seeming unable to get out of his way fast enough. They were almost there. Trunks glanced up at the tree that he and Josie had spent the final hours of that first day at and his heart ached at the dying hope that she'd be sitting at the base of it, grinning, waiting to climb back up there and look at the landscape of the planet once more.

(_**"Yes. There is something very wrong on this planet and there are a lot of innocent people missing... but for now, for just this moment, enjoy what a beautiful planet we're on. Just for a minute. Enjoy the serenity, will ya?"**_)

"Trunks, twelve a clock." Goku shouted from behind him. Trunks looked back ahead and immediately saw what caught Goku's eye. A little boy struggling out of the water exactly at the spot that he and Josie had sat at. They sped up towards him, slowly starting to notice his bleeding head and torn clothes.

When the little boy felt the power heading for him, he screamed in fear.

"Oh no!" Puchi dove away from them covering his small head with his hand protectively.

Just before they reached him, they stopped mid-air when they felt two unnaturally strong beings a second before they shot out of the water, hovering in the air as water splashed everywhere - seeming unaffected - as they stared at the sole object of their attention, the Saiyans.

"..Well," The purple alien started with a smile as his eyes moved from Puchi to the newcomers. " This could be a problem." He commented with some amusement.

Trunks immediately flashed to Super Saiyan, a scowl reminiscent of his father's, on his face as he stared down this new threat.

"You damn well bet it is."

* * *

**Thank you's:** Before anyone else here, I HAVE to thank my boyfriend/partner for his support. Every day he made it a point to remind me himself that I had to get back on the horse and hash out this difficult chapter. I'm not kidding, every day. He's such an avid supporter of this story, despite the fact that he's never read a sentence from it!

_Reviews:_

**ShadowWolfAlchemist**: Thank you so much for the note, yours was the final review that sat me down to finish up this chapter. I hope you stick with us :)

**Clayton:** You are the best. You really are. Thank you for writing to me and reminding me that you wanted to read more. The messages/reviews truly mean the world to me. Thank you, Clayton.

**Kurisetina**: I love your username :) I think you're a new reviewer because I feel I would have remembered that name. Thank you for that review! Hope to hear from you again.

**KrissyNGoten**: Reviews like yours are the best! yours made me laugh and grin as I read it. I'm so glad it's made you laugh, I promise it won't be a serious story for long and hopefully i'll have you laughing again soon! (Also: TFS is amazing. Me and my boyfriend have marathons. It's sad. I know.) Also, I love you too ;)

**Maniiku: **I'm replying to your PM right now. As soon as I wake up tomorrow morning I'm doing some research on what you said. That's crazy! thank you so much for being so lovely, Maniiku, I can't think of another word to better describe you :)

**ImmatureChild: **LOL Yeah *Embarrassed* she is always in trouble, isn't she? X) whoopsi. It's just the dynamic! Val is my level headed girl who is more logical and Josie is... well, not lol. Please let me know what you think of the next few chapters!

**Biiigfan:** I'm sorry it took so long! man, if that last chapter had you worried, this one will probably make that worse! I hope I didn't turn you off with the violence, I promise they'll be help soon. There will be some crazy new adventure that wont involve creepy mean characters sooner than you know it :)

**Shiningheart of ThunderClan:**Ooh yeah, you've got it nailed. Josie's totally in one of those situations where she's frustrated for being treated a certain way but her behavior is the reason she's treated that way so she's kind of screwing herself. The way I think of it though, is she's a kid, she's young, she hasn't matured that much to realize that yet. I can't have perfect characters though! that bugs me, can you imagine if she didn't screw up or wasn't accident/danger prone? that wouldn't be very fun lol.

**Thomas Drovin:** Thomas I haven't spoken to you in so long, I hope you're doing well! the funny thing about Josie doing that stupid thing is, I treat her like someone who's watched DBZ their whole life and shouts at the tv when they do something stupid but when they're in that circumstance themselves, they unintentionally winding up doing the same X) poor girl.

**Evalyd yamazak**i: I love your cat. I don't know if I've told you that before lol. Thank you so much for the review, and aww Puchi (Man I love his weird little name.) I had their name meanings around here somewhere but I have no idea where that scrap of paper went! anyway, I hope you're well!

**TFSrules:** ah... I'm not too uh.. prideful to tell you that if you stayed and married me (Somehow) and uh continued giving me as great as feedback as you do now, I'll uh do everything humanly possible to keep you happy. I'd cook you dinners and keep the house clean and uh...I DON'T EVEN KNOW, but you are seriously top three coolest people I've had review and I just remember as soon as you got up to chapter five in reviewing, I started to shake my head in amazement. Thank you again, so much.

**GreatWolfFaustWalker101**: Can I marry you too please? lol as sad as this may sound, I took a picture of your review and showed it with pride to friends/family. Thank you. Feedback like yours is what I've always wanted and now that I got some.. I just. I'm floored. Thank you.

* * *

**Note**: Guys, last I wanted to say is... I've NEVER gotten so many reviews as I did for the last few chapters, DWMW is my childhood baby and to see it get all this feedback; to hear about all the laughs and eye rolls the girls have caused you is.. I can't even describe it, its amazing.

I apologize once more and hope I haven't lost any one of my reviewers, as selfish as that sounds. **You've all got such distinct voices, ideas, and thoughts on everything that's happened so far. I'd hate to loose that insight.**

I love you all.

-Princess Geta (Writer of longest note ever. So sorry.)


	30. Chapter 30: A visit to Earth

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing!

Note: So this took a while, but not as long as last time! improvement, right? Right?...no? oh well lol.

**Dude Where's My world**

Revised

**Recap**: _"Alright friggin kid.." Josie said shakily, moving her wet hair out of the way as she studied the lock on the boys ankle. "W-what's your name?" She asked, experimentally yanking on the chains._

___He studied her curiously for a minute before responding, "Puchi."_

* * *

_Kuji's attention was obsessively on the struggling girl whose false bravado was completely gone now at his words, her face paling._

* * *

_"..Well," The purple alien started with a smile as his eyes moved from Puchi to the newcomers. " This could be a problem." He commented with some amusement._

_Trunks immediately flashed to Super Saiyan, a scowl reminiscent of his father's, on his face as he stared down this new threat._

_"You damn well bet it is."_

* * *

**Chapter 30**: A visit to Earth

"...I suppose you would not approve of our taking the green rodent and going on our way." The orange alien asked, smiling.

Goku's transformation was a swift swirl of gold before it brightly encompassed his whole body.

"That is likely a no." The orange creature grinned, thrilled.

"Trunks, go find her. I'll take care of these two." Goku commanded, keeping his eyes on the evil creatures before him. Trunks didn't have to be told twice, he rushed towards the water, not sure of what the hell he'd be looking for but following the feeing in his gut that told him she was nearby. He almost touched the water before he was forced to stop suddenly when the orange alien appeared in front of him, arms extended to stop him with that infuriating smile.

"Ah ah." He admonished. "There is nothing you'll be happy to see down there."

His arms tensed to solid rock as his stomach lurched at the ten million possibilities fired through his mind as to what that could mean. All he knew, as a bright orange glow crackled to life in the palm of his hand, was that, he did NOT have time for this.

"Where is she?" Trunks asked through gritted teeth, his palms itching to release the blast. The alien looked from his hand to his face with mild interest.

"There's no girl here." He assured.

Twenty feet behind him out of the water started to emerge the back of a Namek's head and shortly after Trunks felt the air leave his lungs and the blast in his hand dissipated as the blood drained from his face at what he saw; also rising gradually out of the water was an unconscious female form draped over the Namek's shoulder. Josie's form.

The orange creature before him grinned as he looked back to look at the same thing.

"That's embarrassing." He admitted, caught lying. For a moment no one moved; Kuji glanced over his free shoulder at the others with disinterest before turning back away and flying off.

Then chaos erupted. In a moment the green had flashed back into Trunks eyes and with a roar he'd blasted forward in time with Goku towards Kuji but before they got more than a few feet towards him, a group of fifty fighters of all different species appeared in front in a flash wearing black metal armor. The two stopped abruptly as a brown creature with cat ears and a halo of darker hair touching from the top of his head all the way down his chin and back up around the other side of his head stepped forward. He wore a malicious smile as he extended his arms to the side with open palms facing away from him; a dark blast extended out resembling a black rope with crackling thunder bolts biting out.

The first two creatures who they'd met out there came around to hover a few feet in the air in front of the army, silently daring them with a smile to make a move.

Trunks thought he was about to go crazy, he couldn't control his convulsing body; his mouth was clamped shut and he couldn't let out more than a series of grunts as lighting sparked around his body. Goku studied the open challenge in front of them with a frown knowing in seconds that it would be no use. He glanced behind him at where the little boy watched in horror - looking at the empty expressions of the opponents before them - Goku made a split second decision and flew towards the little boy who cried out in fear.

"Shh, I won't hurt you." He attempted to reassure, just now noticing the blood that covered where his ears should have been. He frowned at that and picked him up gently before blasting off back towards Trunks who looked coiled and ready to spring.

"We won't win right now, Trunks. I'm sorry." Goku said as he came to a stop next to the boy, gripping his shoulder and all three of them disappearing from sight before the vast army.

...

_**Josie's mind:**_

"This is so stupid." Normal world Valerie commented as she stood with her arms crossing in front of her out in the middle of a field near a highway; wearing a white-amish looking dress and a flowered bonnet on her head.

Josie stood a few feet away from her, wearing a similar outfit but with a bright smile as she held a video camera in front of her eye.

"Come-on Val! don't be lame, we've got to finish this before this week and turn it in! Now stop whining and act like a troubled farmers daughter picking the fields whose fresh off the boat!"

"But there's nothing but weeds here!" Valerie argued, "And you can barely see me in the shot because of how tall they are. It won't look like I'm picking potatoes!"

"I know." Josie giggled. "I just really wanted to see you walk into that muddy field." She admitted, grin growing bigger when Valerie started cursing up a storm and marching out of the field.

"Aw come-on Val!" Josie attempted, "I'll do it too if you want." She offered.

"No you won't!" Valerie shouted back accusingly.

"No I won't." Josie acquiesced, laughing as she adjusted her own bonnet, flinching a little at the pain raising her arm caused. She lowered her camera, looking down at her shoulder in confusion; It felt like her bones were moving in there, expanding.

"Come-on, let's go to the shack nearby, we'll use that as our 'house'" Valerie said with a sigh, raising her legs high with each step to get out of the grassy mud filled fields. "I swear if I find a single flea on me later I'm going to kick your- hurry up." Josie grimaced as ribcage shifted as well, her mouth opened in pain as she wrapped her arm around herself and slowly came to her knees.

"Val?" She called, confused, groaning as she tried to swallow some moisture into her painfully dry throat. With pain filled eyes she let the camera drop to the side and put her hands on the ground, carefully laying down while attempting get enough air into her contracting lungs. She stared up at the clouded sky, her chest heaving up and down as an acidic feeling continuously swept up and down throughout her body, torturously slow.

"Are you coming?" Valerie shouted from a distance.

"What's happening..." Josie mumbled quietly, tears seeped out the corners of her eyes. "VAL?" She heard a voice but it no longer sounded like Valerie, she stared up into the darkening sky in confusion as one voice became two and then three in the sky.

"_How intriguing." _A male gruff voice said quietly.

"_Hmm...I don't see how," _A second, smaller more squawky voice, countered_. "Her skin has the consistency of mud."_ He sneered._ "This is taking absurdly long." _The familiar sounding voice continued, annoyed_. _ "_I'm tempted to rid this galaxy of her worthless existance right now for ruining my plans._"

"_Master, is there really any need? It would be a waste of a resource._" The first voice said worriedly. The more shrill second scoffed.

"_Resource? She's a waste of space..." _He argued_. "But still, if no other purpose, she can be used as bait. Kuji._" He called out.

"_Yes, Master_." Kuji replied.

"_Once we're done here put her in a cell until she awakens_." Josie's heart started to race frantically as her shoulder shifted painfully once again. Slowly everything was loosing its crisp clarity and the sky seemed to push farther away from her, shifting dramatically into an animated blue. _Anime_.

She turned her head to the side and saw the trees becoming 2D all around her as everything around her took on that form. "VAL!" She cried out her voice choking in pain as her body took on the familiar animated form that she'd temporarily forgotten all about.

"Shh." Struggling to breathe Josie looked up as the pressure in her lungs eased.

"Trunks?" She asked, surprised. Her friend knelt down next to her, looking her frame up and down with grim worry.

"Keep quiet and don't open your eyes." He requested.

"But-" He only put his index finger to his lips as she silently began to endured the pain.

Her bones were mending - she could feel that now - as she attempted to force her body to relax and though it broke her heart to see him go, Trunks started to fade along with everything else until there was nothing but black left. She closed her eyes now that he was gone and focused on her breathing; in and out, long and deep. She remembered now; she remembered Namek and Kuji and what he'd done to her and she remembered how far her friends were from her now. Did they know she was gone yet? she didn't even know for certain how much or how little time had passed since she'd left the ship.

She felt pressure behind her eyes but refused to let herself give into the desire to cry, instead choosing to focus on her breathing and those male voices she had heard in the sky that began to sound closer and closer the more she focused. She could hear laughter, an unmistakeable one, Babidi's.

"They ran away like a bunch of cowards, oh what a glorious victory...'' He shouted gleeful. "Where did that blasted Dr. go? oh never mind, Kuji. Take the girl away, bring her to me when she awakens. We've got a trap to prepare for." Josie fought tooth and nail with herself not to fight or tense when she felt Kuji pick her up.

Easy... Easy. Josie warned herself, trying hard to push down the bile that threatened to come up and give her away. She felt grateful when she felt him drop her body to the cold concrete, willing to tolerate any painful drop rather than feel him touch her again.

_Oh if I have a second chance, I'd kill you in a heartbeat.._ Josie thought darkly, opening her eyes to stare the ceiling once he was gone. There was no funny thoughts of horses or sweet country ballads in her mind now; now Josie just wanted to find a way to get out and warn the others. _And kill Kuji._ She grimaced, shaking her head knowing she had to stop that train of thought before she got herself into more trouble. She kept her ears open for any noises for a minute before letting her hand make its way to her pants pocket, smirking up at the ceiling when she felt her emergency capsule box.

...

**"-O, NO GOKU!"** Trunks voice shouted angrily as he, Goku and Puchi appeared onto the Lookout on planet Earth. Trunks looked around hopelessly, breathing hard, unaware that he was still powered up. Dende and Popo came running to them but stopped a few feet away once they felt the tension. "GOKU WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Trunks whirled angrily on him.

"Trunks,"

"NO!" Trunks growled, stepping forward. "Lets go back - we have-"

"TRUNKS." Goku called sharply, still holding onto the young, shaking child. "We're not going anywhere until you calm down - now power down, you're scaring him." Trunks was about to angrily retort when the Namekian child in Goku's arms finally caught his attention. The howling in his Saiyan blood desperate to hurt the creature that had hurt his helpless friend cooled and the human sympathy flickered off his Super Saiyan transformation. He hesitated before finally powering fully down.

Goku smiled sadly at him. "Thank you." Trunks looked away.

"Goku?" Dende asked tentatively. Goku turned to Dende, smiling.

"Hey Dende, Mr. Popo." He nodded. "I'd like you to meet a new little friend of mine." He said looking down at the little boy who stared with wide eyes at Dende, who grinned back at him.

"Well, hello there-" Dende frowned when he saw the blood on the boys head and he immediately stepped forward, taking the boy from Goku's arms and setting him down on the ground, sitting before him. "That looks pretty painful." He mumbled with sympathy as he put his hands above the boy and began to heal him with Goku overseeing the process.

"Goku talk to me, damn it." Trunks started again, waiting long enough. Goku glanced at him, sternly.

"We stood no chance, Trunks," Trunks jaw clenched tightly. "And you know that."

"So that means we don't try at all?" He exclaimed in disbelief. "They had her! She didn't just wander off - they HAVE her." Goku nodded, staring away thoughtfully.

"I know." He acknowledged. "I wanted to get this little guy out of dangers way. Hows he doing?" Goku asked Dende who gave one thumbs up with a smile before continuing. "We'll need help too; I saw forty to sixty guys out there and something tells me that's not half of what Babidi's got up his sleeve." Trunks spun back to him, shock written all over his face.

"What?" He asked. Goku looked at him disapprovingly.

"I admire your dedication to your friend, Trunks, but you need to keep your head clear if you're going to be any help to us in this fight. Did you not see Babidi's symbol written on them?" Trunks frowned at the ground trying to remember the confrontation but there was such a blur of white hot rage that he barely remembered what happened.

"I guess I missed it.." He mumbled. Goku only nodded.

"I'll go get Tien and Uub, it feels like Krillin is in your city, can you go get him?" Trunks nodded dumbly, feeling idiotic for letting his anger take over him like that but none of that slighted anger was present now; now he only felt hollow and sharp aching in his heart for his friend._ She must be so scared_, he thought, grimacing at the sharp pain in his chest flashed again; his heart felt like it was breaking right there inside of him. He felt Goku's hand on his shoulder and looked up.

"Don't beat yourself over this, we'll get her back - and your power increased something pretty fierce back there," Goku said with a small grin. "Was that Super Saiyan 2 I saw?" Trunks smiled, shaking his head.

"I doubt it." Goku only smiled.

"Hmm... I guess we'll see later, won't we? keep that anger channeled, Trunks, we'll get them." He assured with a gentle squeeze. Trunks nodded giving him a genuine smile now.

"Thanks Goku." Goku patted him one more time on the shoulder and flew off.

"Let's meet back here soon, we need to get back." Trunks nodded, giving him a thumbs up and flying off himself as fast as he could to Capsule Corporation.

...

"Thanks for the invite for lunch, Chichi." Krillin said from his chair, uncomfortably, in the dinning room table at Capsule Corporation where he was currently surrounded by all women with varying degrees of stress.

"No problem at all, Krillin. Sweetheart?" Chichi called to Valerie whose temple was on her closed fist over the table, twirling her noodles with her fork without much of an appetite. She glanced up at Chichi who looked worried about her. She glanced down when she felt Bra's soft little hand on her own and she narrowed her eyes at the table, tightening her jaw.

"I'm fine." She attempted to assure them, taking a deep breath. "I'm just not very hungry." Chichi nodded and stood up refilling their tea for her guests. Android 18, Maron and Krillin had called a little earlier to ask if they could drop by to ask about the trips progression but realized soon after they arrived that they'd picked a bad day.

Krillin look at her sympathetically, "I'm sorry Valerie." He said sincerely. "I know what its like to constantly be worried about your best friend." Valerie nodded absently.

"So nobody's contacted you since that last feed?" Android 18 asked curiously, taking a drink of her water.

"Nothing yet." Pan said with a sigh, sulking from her end of the table too, worried about her own family. "Can we try to-" Pan paused, her eyes widening. Valerie noticed her physical reaction and sat up straighter, confused, glancing back to Krillin who had the same surprised expression.

"Do you feel that?" Krillin asked. Pan's face lit up with a huge grin.

"Grandpa!" She exclaimed, jumping from the table and running to the living room, ignoring the sounds of scraping chairs following behind her. She got to the living room as Trunks was walking through the door, looking grim and unhappy to see her. "Trunks!" she shouted happily, jumping on her old friend for a hug closely followed by Giru who happily exclaimed his name.

"Hey guys." He patted her back, distracted. He saw the others follow her and his eyes remained on Krillin, a pang of sorrow coming over him when Valerie looked at him.

"Krillin, can we talk outside?"

"Absolutely not." Chichi said immediately, with steel in her voice. "We're all a part of this, Trunks, you'll say what you have to say in front of us all." Trunks put his hands on his hips and nodded finally, waving a hand through his hair.

"Fine."

"Trunks, what's going on?" Videl asked, worriedly.

"Goku's pretty sure it's Babidi." He ignored the gasps of shock. "We need more help than we originally thought. We were hoping you'd come with, Krillin." Krillin blinked at him, absently playing with his grayed mustache as he considered the option.

"No." Trunks looked up at the firm answer from Krilin's wife, before he could try to argue, she added, "I'll go."

"What!" Krillin asked, whirling around on his wife, shocked.

"Things can't be going well if you came back to ask for help." 18 pointed out receiving nothing but a stare in return. "And if the situation is that serious than we should be serious about the strength you'll need. I'm stronger than you Krillin." Krillin pouted at that.

"I'm just a little rusty.." Android 18 smiled at her husband, fondly.

"Regardless, I am offering to help." Trunks finally nodded, tense and eager to go back.

"We could definitely use you, 18." She nodded.

"Chichi, do you have any clothes I can borrow?" 18 asked, gesturing down to her current state of dress that was not practical for fighting.

"...Of course." Chichi said, blinking, gesturing towards the stairs. "Come-on." Without another word she and 18 went up the stairs. Maron sighed, going back into the dinning room, followed by Krillin who both wished him luck.

"Trunks, can I come too?" Pan asked, meekly. "I could help." He looked at her and she knew the answer was no. "Trun-"

"I don't have it in me to argue with you on this, Panny, so please don't ask anymore." Videl nodded in agreement.

"Now say goodbye to Trunks, and go back to your lunch." Videl said firmly. Once she did so, Videl went up to Trunks and squeezed his arm gently. "Make sure my husband comes home, will you?" Trunks nodded.

"I'll tell him you said hi." He assured. Once Videl disappeared she left him alone with Giru, Bra and Valerie whose eyes bore into him. He did his best to avert his eyes before his little sister took him firmly by the chin and lowered his face so he could look at her small face.

"Where's Josie?" She asked, expression marred with worry. He looked up, wanting to avoid her gaze but it only met Valerie's... and she looked so much worse. He swallowed with difficulty.

"They have her." He admitted, feeling his little sister let go of his face and look back at Valerie who immediately sat down with little giru sitting on her lap, attempting to comfort her. She inattentively put a hand on him as she was crowded on both sides by the Briefs. Trunks moved to sit in front of her on the coffee table.

"Val." He tried. "I'm sorry." She shook her head.

"It's not your fault." She mumbled. "Its all hers." She added. He cracked a smile at that, nodding.

"Probably."

"You'll bring her back, right?" She asked, eyes coming back to meet his questioningly, hopeful.

"Of course he will." Bra jumped right in, hand on his knee and her shoulder. "We'll all be back here hanging out in no time." Valerie continued to stare at his eyes searchingly as he dropped his gaze to Giru, giving him an absentminded pat, before turning towards the voices coming down the stairs. 18 came down a few seconds later, nodding.

A few minutes later with final goodbyes said, Trunks flew ahead of 18 wanting to get to the lookout and off the planet as soon as possible, not wanting to see his home again until the battle was over; with a beaming Josie at his side ranting and raving about the crazy adventure she'd had on planet Namek.

...

Josie took a deep breathe, plating both hands on the ground beside her before pushing herself up into a sitting position; cringing in anticipation of the pain that would/should surely follow but was surprised when none did. She immediately brought her hands to her still damp hair and felt her body in quick frantic movements; from her previously shattered shoulder to her broken ribcage and swollen eye. Nothing. There was no indication that she'd ever been brutally beaten.

She sat there, breathing heavily, as she digested all of this, unable to stop herself from putting her forehead to her bent knees and letting her sorrow and fear wash over her violently shaking body for a minute of overwhelming self-pity over what she'd experienced. After a minute she looked up with shinning eyes and studied her surroundings. This cell didn't look much different from the one they'd originally put her in, she thought, getting up and feeling the bars; that likely meant that they were more confident in their security here. She didn't see a whole cave here, only metal hallways leading in both directions. She absently massaged her shoulder, still paranoid that the pain would come back any second.

Babidi had healed her, she was sure of it. She remembered his annoying voice over her body as her insides shifted to their correct place, she remembered the acidic feeling; it had felt nothing like the Namekians gentle and natural healing but had felt dark, crawling, and invasive. She shuddered at the bad taste it gave her, refusing to waste any more time lingering on useless thoughts while she could be escaping. She didn't exactly have a plan - as she went through the capsules, looking for the fire torch she'd used before- but she couldn't count on the guys having caught up on her current situation, especially after what she'd done to the communication system. She could really kick herself over THAT stupid mistake, if someone else hadn't already so thoroughly done the job a while ago for her; she thought with a humorless smile.

She torched a small corner of the cell, hoping to make it as inconspicuous as possible incase they were to pass by. Once it was big enough to fit her through it, she closed it all up and put it away, carefully going through the hole and hesitating on which direction to go. Kuji had gone right and by default that made her go left to avoid him; she'd un-capsuled a knife as well, knowing that she still had no chance against any opponent here but feeling safer with it in hand. She found nothing more than an automatic door at the end o the hall, which opened as she neared it, making her pause.

Heart hammering in her ears, she went out.

...

"This is where Trunks power spiked." Piccolo assured as he, Goten, Gohan and Vegeta hovered over the area where the confrontation between Trunks, Goku and the small army had taken place thirty minutes ago.

"But where are they now?" Goten asked, worriedly.

"I don't feel them anywhere on the planet." Gohan added, frowning. Piccolo studied the ground near a body of water and slowly flew down to the spot.

"There's blood here." He said simply, seeing droplets of blood.

"There's a lot more here." Gohan shouted, landing on another stretch of land opposite Piccolo. "This is Namekian blood here."

"Guess what's right in between.." Vegeta mumbled to himself, staring at the body of water through a scowl, remembering Josie's words on where she thought these bad guys were hiding out. Annoyed with the possibility that the girl could have been right and nagged by a foreboding, Vegeta dived right in, closely followed by Goten. Seconds later there were two more dives and no more than a minute later they'd spotted the cave entrance and popped up for air within the cave walls, immediately assaulted with the smell of blood. Wordlessly, they all got out and investigated the scene.

"More dried blood." Gohan finally said, kneeling by the chain with dried purple blood around it.

"More blood period.." Goten said, frowning as he looked at the red blood pools and spatters all over the ground and walls. Vegeta silently studied the melted cave as Piccolo picked up the discarded axe with Namekian blood on it.

"Someone fought here." Goten commented as he glanced at Piccolo's axe, receiving a slow nod.

"It was the girl." Vegeta said simply.

"W-what?" Gohan stuttered, eyes wide, looking over at Piccolo for denial but only saw a grim expression.

"There was a human here." Piccolo confirmed, throwing the axe to the side.

"Who says it was Josie though!" Goten argued, shocked that they'd so easily assume and horrified at that possibility.

"Think, Goten." Vegeta growled. "Who else could it possibly be?"

"...I-." He studied the cave with new eyes. "I don't know!" He exclaimed, heart thumping loudly.

"The only other human on the planet is Bulma and I know her blood." Vegeta said with finality. "It's the girl." He started walking towards the water again, not interested in the rest. "We can argue over this back and forth all day or you can accept the fact and we can figure out where my son and your father are"' He said, jaw tight and eyes lit with irritation, fist clenching at his side. "And we can finish this once and for all."

...

When Trunks arrived to the Lookout with Android 18 in tow, Dende, Mr. Popo and the little Namekian boy were all outside having been waiting for their arrival.

"Welcome back, Trunks, hello 18." She nodded in greeting, glancing briefly at the little Namek before going a few feet away from all of them to train some before the action got started. Trunks glanced in her direction, saw what she was doing and moved towards the others, studying the little boy curiously.

The little Namek seemed to grow nervous at his approach because he quickly stepped behind Dende's leg, grabbing onto the back of his clothing and mumbling something to him in Namekian. Dende laughed lightly and placed his hand over the child's head replying back in their native language before smiling over at Trunks.

"Your Super Saiyan transformation scared him." Trunks nodded, crouching down and looking at the little boy apologetically.

"I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you." Puchi stared at him, looking somewhat unsure, before he finally stepped out from behind Dende and nodded, accepting the apology. Trunks blinked in surprise at his ability to understand English. "I see you've got your ears back." A light blush covered Puchi's cheeks as he nodded again. "What's your name?"

"Puchi." Trunks extended his hand over and shook the cute little boys hand.

"Trunks."

"Puchi was telling me about his injuries." Dende explained to Trunks as he stood back up, hands on his hips, sympathetic.

"Oh yeah? Was it the orange or purple guy?" He asked Puchi who shook his head and pointed at himself making Trunks frown in confusion. "..You did it... to yourself?" Puchi nodded.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Puchi said that the young girl who was held prisoner alongside him made him do it," Dende said, seeing the recognition and hurt flicker in Trunks eyes.

"Josie?" Dende nodded.

"I'm afraid so." Trunks swallowed as he repeated Dende's nod, absently. "Did he say anything else?"

"Only that seconds after he removed his ears he saw Kuji crumble to his feet and the last thing he saw before he got out was Josie swinging a sharp blade into his side."

_Good girl_, Trunks thought fiercely, pride extinguished when he remembered he'd seen her shortly after, her unconscious body slung over the Namek's shoulder, carelessly.

"He told me exactly where Babidi is, Trunks." Trunks eyes came back Dende's with surprise; feeling a tug at his senses he turned around in time to see Goku and Uub landing; both males joined by Android 18 as they walked over to Trunks as he turned back to the two Namekians, focused.

"Where is she?" He asked, determination and hope shining brightly in his eyes.

* * *

_**Reviews:**_

**Evalyd Yamazaki**: I'm so sorry about the loss of your beautiful kitten, loosing a pet is so painful but I'm happy that you've got a little Loki now! I friggin love that name on a pet.

As for Josie, I'd like to think that she went through a little of every feeling you could feel in a terrible situation like that; she went through paralyzing fear, she tried to talk herself out of danger, in typical Josie fashion, only to fail; when she's finally hit and disoriented she has a few moments of whimpering panic, shortly after shock, anger, indignation and at one point even denial as she starts to fantasize about a country music video. And i'm right there with you I can't WAIT for the boys to make them pay for what they've done. I'm so glad you like Puchi! I was thinking of shelving him but just for you and a few others, he'll be around a little longer! never be afraid to tell me who you like and what you want to see, if possible, I'll always try to accommodate! ESPECIALLY when cookies are involved ;)

**Thomas Drovin**: I'm always happy to read an e-mail from you, sir! so anytime :) and she has gotten herself into a lot of trouble! I'm so glad you think the girls are there for a reason too, we've got the same mind on a lot of issues the girls have/are going through. I can't make any promises on the future but I'll find a way to make everything right. That I can promise you! And aah! I'm so jealous! I would love to meet them X_X I need to send you a PM and ask for more details on that adventure..

**TFSrules**: I did, I did! I couldn't leave you guys hanging! I thought about this all the time. The last chapter was violent and a hard one for me (Because i had to scrap the original format from the first time around and change some minor/major things) and as sad as it sounds, I don't like hurting either of my girls but I felt the need to keep that last chapter in all its gory pain filled content. I'm so glad you felt it with me every step of the way! ooh that makes my heart soar... You'll get more on Puchi! like I told Evalyd, never be afraid to tell me what you'd like to see in the story! I love reading your visions for the future :)

**ImmatureChild:** I love the phrase "better than ever" gave me shudders to read that in a review :) thank you so much! every part of your review had awesome. "Holy Tension" is the best way to describe these last few! but I promise it'll go back to comedy/fun soon :)

**Kurisetina:** I love indignation for the pain all these characters are suffering - It is amazing to hear about other people caring about the characters, thank you so much for the review! I'll make sure that it happens :D

**Feloalberto**: I'm so stoked that this has been a ride for you, that's all I ever want. I may have mentioned this before but I'm with you on enjoying Vegeta/Piccolo, those two are some of my favorites to write for because of those short fuses. As for Josie saying she could handle it, I think that really was just a naive teenage moment of puffed up pride and inability to realize the seriousness of the situation. In the end, what he did was something I could see him doing in a moment of anger but the way he grew up as the series progressed (in my opinion) he developed a much more tangible conscious and I do think, despite her deserving it, he would have felt guilty about shocking/traumatizing her simply because she was naive. I'll PM you later with response to the rest! Thanks so much for reading!

**Shiningheart of ThunderClan:** aah! I'm so glad you found the last chapter intense! Ooh its coming and Trunks WILL get his moment. Really soon! ;)

**Clayton1998**: No! Never stop checking :) I can't give up on this story, I'll keep updating, thank you so much or all the support Clayton.

**FallenAngelx3**: Hi there! Thanks so much for your words. I'm glad you find it interesting! I'm truly hoping to update more regularly because I'm no where near the end here but I'd like to give everyone the answer they want to some of these big questions regarding the ending soon!

**Sexy and I Know It 123321**: Its like you somehow knew what was going on in my mind. So I've had this chapter completed for a little and I just needed to edit some minor stuff and I kept putting it off and I told myself, well... I'm sure it can wait another day or two and just as Im thinking that, I'm alerted to a review and I grin, shake my head and pull out my laptop to finish it up right away. Thank you for the motivation! It feels SO good to hear you say that, I know I've gotten in that same mindset of reading a whole story in a day and its amazing knowing I could do that for someone else too. I hope this is a quick enough update for ya ;)

* * *

**Note:** sorry for the responses guys, sometimes I like to explain a certain process incase anyone is wondering what I was going for in some scenes. If you ever have any questions/anything seems unclear or you want backstory on any moment/detail please feel free to shoot me a PM or ask in a review :)

Again, I apologize for the delays, but I promise you I will never stop updating the story! I will admit though, with reviews coming, I'll always update much faster than I would without. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Take care of yourselves.


	31. Chapter 31: I won't give up

**Disclaimer**:I don't own db/z/GT characters.

**Note:** I occasionally have favorite characters when it comes to specific chapters. I liked Goku a lot in the last chapter, but Vegeta's my favorite in this one. That is all lol.

**Dude Where's My World:**

Revised

**Recap:**

_"We won't win right now, Trunks. I'm sorry." Goku said as he came to a stop next to the boy, gripping his shoulder and all three of them disappearing from sight before the vast army._

* * *

_(Dream sequence) _

_"Trunks?" Josie asked, surprised. Her friend knelt down next to her, looking her frame up and down with grim worry._

_"Keep quiet and don't open your eyes." He requested._

* * *

_You'll bring her back, right?" She asked, eyes coming back to meet his questioningly, hopeful._

_"Of course he will." Bra jumped right in, hand on his knee and her shoulder. "We'll all be back here hanging out in no time."_

* * *

_"We can argue over this back and forth all day or you can accept the fact and we can figure out where my son and your father are"' Vegeta said, jaw tight and eyes lit with irritation, fist clenching at his side. "And we can finish this once and for all."_

* * *

_Josie had un-capsuled a knife as well, knowing that she still had no chance against any opponent here but feeling safer with it in hand. She found nothing more than an automatic door at the end of the hall, which opened as she neared it, making her pause. _

_Heart hammering in her ears, she went out._

* * *

**Chapter 31**: I won't give up

Bulma sighed as she sat on the bed across from Josie's with papers spread all around her. She glanced at Josie's bed, feeling her stomach twist for the hundredth time in the last three hours. How had everything become undone in such a short period of time? She'd tried calling Trunks five dozen times but got only static on his end. He wasn't within range and all that did was give her more questions. She looked back down at the paper in her hands tiredly:

_If this is really truly the dbz universe, the ultimate goal is prolly to kill Goku. _

Bulma grinned at that, not surprised that Josie could still make her laugh, even when she was no where near her; who the heck said 'prolly'?

_When they finally stop treating me like a crazy little girl, remind them that they have resources. _She'd circled Supreme Kai and drawn an arrow connecting it to the Babidi bubble. Seeing her writings, it was obvious that she'd been wracking her brains for answers. She'd listed at least five enemies that she remembered the Z fighters facing along with bubbles and scribbles describing M.O's for the villain. Babidi's lines had the most links to what they were currently facing and she thought over what Josie had written.

She was right, in times of crisis they tended to forget the friendships they'd forged with people who could help them figure it out, and if she was right and the hidden enemy had been Babidi this whole time; there was no one better qualified to help them than the Supreme Kai, or Kabito Kai, as he was known nowadays.

She sighed as she took a few sheets and got up, heading to to the cockpit and taking a seat lazily on the first chair, curling herself up in the chair and staring blankly at the black screens before her; considering calling Capsule Corp to take her mind off of things until the boys brought Josie back.

She was sitting there all of three minutes when she heard quick footsteps and hushed voices down the hallway, she stood up dropping the papers on her seat, eagerly scanning through the boys that entered the cockpit.

"Guys?" She questioned, confused as she leaned a little to the side to make sure that Goku, Trunks and Josie weren't behind them. "What are you doing back so early? Did you find something?" She quieted when she saw their expressions. "...Did you find who is doing this?"

"Where did the girl go, Bulma?" Vegeta asked poignantly, with no roughness in his voice. She blinked at him.

"...How do you know about Josie?"

"...We found human blood, Bulma." Gohan said gently, eyes downcast, not wanting to look as he heard Bulma gasp.

"W-what?" She demanded. "Where?"

"Less than two miles from here." Piccolo answered. Goten stared at Bulma, his gentle eyes filled with sorrow.

"So its true? she's not here?" Goten asked miserably. Bulma's eyes watered, her hand instinctually coming to her stomach to ease the pain as it lurched; she swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, grateful to feel her husband come stand beside her.

"She snuck out when we were all settling in." She explained. "Trunks and Goku couldn't have been more than five to ten minutes behind her... I don't understand," She shook her head. "..N-nothing else?" She asked tentatively, not wanting to be told if they'd found a body as well but still needing that clarification.

"Just blood." Gohan assured. They heard footsteps and Trunks calling her name.

"No one tells him." Bulma said strongly, wiping at her eyes, staring down everyone in the room. "Do you understand? no one, not right now." Before they could respond, Trunks came into the cockpit, taking quick count of who was all there.

"Good, you're all here. Let's go outside." He asked, starting to turn around.

"No, Trunks- we should talk." His eyes flashed with impatience before he managed to suppressed it.

"We can talk outside, come-on." He led them all outside where Goku stood beside 18, and Uub.

"Whoa, what are you guys doing here?" Gohan asked, surprised.

"They came to help." Trunks explained. "With Josie missing now, we've run out of time and options, we have to attack. Does anybody have a problem with that?" He asked, hearing no arguments, he nodded, glancing at Goku.

"Then lets not waste either then and get going."

...

Josie ducked back into the familiar hallway when she heard two voices, pressing hard against the door with her eyes closed; half tempted to just run back into her cell but knowing - more than anything - she needed to get out, and ducking back in there every time she heard a noise would get her no where fast. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it, opening the door slowly. She peeked in both directions, not seeing anything but another hallway.

She quietly maneuvered herself back out there and stuck close to the wall, opting for the door on the far left. When she opened that door slowly she only saw pitch black and when she heard footsteps behind her, this time, she quickly stepped inside; putting as much distance between herself and the door, hiding behind what she hoped to be fabric. The footsteps retreated for a minute before they came pounding the direction of the room she was in. She pushed herself as much as she could towards the wall behind her, using the material as cover. A light turned on and after tense seconds, the door closed again.

Josie let out of a breath she'd been holding. "I've never had to pee so bad in my whole damn life." She mumbled quietly, coming out from her hiding spot. _Why was he running? did they already realize I'm missing? _She wondered nervously. She shook her head, turning back around to look at the spot where she'd been hiding. This was a walk-in supplies closet. She smiled as she eyed all the medicines to her sides and the scrubs. She glanced down at her drying clothes with blood stains all over and wrinkled her nose. If she had any shot at getting out of here, blood and tears at her clothing would give her away in a second.

Without another thought she changed into some turquoise scrub pants and a white tank top and went to the door. She opened the door and immediately three alien guns cocked in her direction.

"Son of a-" She squawked as a scaly hand reached around the back of her neck and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck pushing her roughly out.

...

"We'll see you tomorrow guys!" Pan waved to her mom and grandmother as she hovered in the air with one arm around a nervous Valerie and Giru beside her.

"Be safe!" Chichi hollered.

"Aw come-on, Chichi, what can happen, they're with me!" Krillin chimed grinning.

"That's what I'm worried about!" Chichi retorted, smiling. Krillin gave them a final wave, adjusting Bra in his arms and took off after Pan towards the Lookout, the ride was mostly silent other than some basic observations as to what they thought may be happening on New Namek. After Trunks visit they'd decided to visit Dende to see what he knew. Twenty minutes later they arrived with a slightly nauseous Valerie.

"You okay?" Pan asked Valerie, grinning, noting the green look about her. Valerie lightly threw a glare in her direction, muttering to herself as she got her surroundings back and finally froze when she remembered where they were.

"Oh wow..." She mumbled in awe. Just like everything else she'd come to experience in this world, she was overwhelmed by how much bigger everything was than how it appeared on TV. The Look-out itself was more than a mile long and would take her a solid half hour to get across, if not more.

"You going to be okay there, champ?" Pan asked Valerie with a teasing smile. Valerie threw a light glare in the girl's direction, nodding.

"I'm fine, thanks." She said, somewhat deadpan.

"Thats the spirit." Bra said, joyfully. "I'm going to go drop off my stuff in my room, Pan you should go to the kitchen and see what you can start up, I think we're all still a little hungry after that interrupted dinner." Pan nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

"Come-on Giru, let's go find Mr. Popo and ask for his help." She ordered, "See you guys in a bit." She waved to the remaining two and flew off towards the building with the little robot in tow. As the girls were heading inside Dende was coming out and though she couldn't hear the greeting he gave to the girls he didn't seem surprised or unhappy to see them, just waved them in and headed straight for her and Krillin.

"Its still weird to see Nameks." Valerie mumbled more to herself than Krillin. He still heard her quite clearly and grinned, scratching his mustache thoughtfully.

"I guess it would be, you don't notice after a while." He assured. "Hey Dende!" He called happily, waving to his old friend as they walked forward to meet him.

"Hey Krillin," Dende said easily with a bright smile. "And hello, Valerie, correct?"

"Yes," Valerie bowed slightly, unsure of what was proper.

"It is very nice to see you again," He said politely. "I'm just sorry its under such terrible circumstances." Krillin glanced over Dende's shoulder to make sure Pan and Bra were already gone and feeling satisfied, his serious expression came back and he studied his long time friend closely.

"How bad is it, Dende?"

"I'm afraid its bad." Dende said frankly. "It appears, somehow, Babidi escaped HFIL."

...

Josie's shoulders hunched up as she tried to wriggle her way out of the firm grasp on the back of her neck, slimy fingers pressing their fingernails into the skin there.

"I can see why you grew fond of hitting her," The orange creature from earlier, remarked. Josie forced her head back to the left as much as she could at the orange creature, confused as to what he was talking about. He grinned and turned her head forcefully the other direction, making her look over her right shoulder, finally noticing a few steps behind was the empty expression of Kuji following them.

The orange creature could feel the exact moment that she went from sane to unhinged as she recklessly slammed her body back in a blind panic that gripped her to her very core; screaming, clawing, pushing- anything to get him to let her go before Kuji got any closer.

From the next room, they heard the scratchy high pitched voice of the 'Master' calling in annoyance,"Arapaima!" And just like that, Josie's eyes latched on to the creature holding her, seeing his brief smile before he put his hand on her stomach and she flew backwards; feeling the burning surface of tile floor scrapping her back as she continued to skid when she landed on the ground. Her body came to a painful stop in the middle of the wide expanse of a huge circular throne room. Her survival instinct enflamed by having seen Kuji again immediately made her get back up - despite the pain - and tensely stare at the two calm individuals entering the room, her breathing labored and back throbbing.

"THAT was an unnecessarily noisy entrance." That same scratchy voice from before, grated. Josie immediately turned around, staring in grim fascination at the small wrinkly form of Babidi in the far edge of the room sitting on an obscenely large throne, a back drop of glass displaying the Namekian Ocean behind him.

Josie fought the immediate desire to open her mouth and ask, "_How_" and tightly kept her mouth shut, instead choosing to simply stare at him waiting for him to start, knowing he wouldn't be able to help but to do just that. He stared at her curiously, a small smile on his wrinkled face.

"You're awake." He pointed out the obvious, glancing beside him at a Namekian Josie hadn't met yet. "She's awake," He repeated. "Is she everything you expected and more?" Before Josie could put any real thought into what Babidi could mean by that, she jumped up taking a few quick steps away from Arapaima and Kuji who'd come to stand post near her. The first only grinned at her for a second before turning his attention back to his Master and bowing.

"You've healed quite well." Josie continued to wearily eye the two enemies before her, ignoring Babidi to make sure they didn't make a move. She gasped as a sharp pain in her head throbbed painfully making her immediately drop to her knees as she turned back to Babidi, grimacing.

"W-what? I'm sorry!" Babidi looked at her with annoyance.

"Do not ignore me, girl, I've only kept you alive because of curiosity, do not make me regret it." She nodded hastily. He settled back in his seat, smiling. "Tell me what you are." Josie struggled to hear him through the loud throbbing in her head, feeling her head to make sure it wasn't any bigger. She remembered what he'd done to that staff member at the World Martial Arts Tournament for simply annoying him and realized despite whatever fear she may have of Kuji and the other alien; she would have to give them her back and remember who the real danger was here.

But what should she do now? What was he asking? should she downplay what she knew? how much did HE know about her already? Did she dare risk angering him again by lying to his face now? He could kill her, what would happen to her then?

She took two calming breaths, eyes fixated on the amused alien before her, who could practically see the wheels turning in her head a million miles a minute in an attempt to come up with a suitable lie. "Well?" He urged.

"I'm a nobody." She assured finally, body shaking as she tried to stand back up. He nodded slowly.

"Yes, I gathered as much from the show Kuji put on." She could feel hatred and anger coursing through every part of her body, practically making her fingertips go numb. He smiled delightedly when vivid hatred came into her eyes instead of the whimpering fear he'd expected at the reminder.

"I know who you are though." She bit out angrily, hands in closed fists. "And you're... a lot smaller and wrinkley in person than I thought you would be." His eyes narrowed at that.

"Why you insolent brat..."

"How are you alive?" She finally asked. He raised an eyebrow, silently asking her what made her think that he'd tell her anything. "What?" She asked, unable to help herself. "You saving this speech for Goku? You know he's only going to come in and beat you 13 ways from last Sundays football game, you might as well tell _somebody_." He finally chuckled and nodded, signaling her closer. Josie gladly did so, glancing briefly at the two behind her to make sure they didn't follow; happy when she saw them stay exactly where they were. She got within a few feet of the wizard, finally noticing the crystal ball encompassed by little bolts of electricity on a small stand beside him.

"Very well," He said, making himself comfortable. "As...you seem to already know, I was dead." Babidi started, "Killed by my father's own creation that i had struggled so hard to bring back from near extinction." Josie noticed the silent Namek beside Babidi studying her and stepped a little away from him, feeling uncomfortable. "Left to rot in a worthless after life where no one appreciated my true power - having to witness my father's Buu be reduced to a whimpering, candy loving, earth defender." He said with disgust. "All because of Goku." He spat out. "Time held no meaning there, I did nothing but waste away, but one day," He continued, his features turning wickedly pleased. "I felt a tug at my senses...it was slow at first," He said smile broadening. "And then I started to make out a voice attempting to reach me, singing my praises, worshiping my name. You see, in this quadrant there was a planet with a weak tribe of sorcerers who seemed to have heard stories about my powers and abilities." He continued, eyeing her. "They seem to have developed urban legends about Majins. They misconstrued what I could do. What kind of person I was." He said smiling. "You wouldn't happen to know what thats like, would you?" He asked, grinning when he received no response - seeming to not have expected one. "In any case, their planet was filled with worthless sorcerer lives who were constantly under attack by some Beast-" He waved his hand dismissively, already bored with that part of the story. "To make a dull story short I promised them power, the likes of which, they'd never known before and I promised to take care of their monster problem, if they brought me back to life." He added. "I told them exactly how to do it, they followed my instructions to the letter, and after the strongest member of their race was sacrificed - his life for mine - I came back."

"...What happened to their monster problem?"

"I killed their entire population except for the beast, him, I took as a pet." He said gleefully. "Their was one catch though...Yes?" Babidi asked with annoyance, eyes past Josie's shoulder where Arapaima was quickly approaching the throne.

"Sir..." He glanced at Josie, unsure if he should disclose the information in front of her.

"Well?" Babidi asked impatiently. "Spit it out already, you know she won't be a problem much longer." That made Arapaima's lip twitch up with some amusement, confidence coming back into his posture as he relaxed.

"Master, the enemies are fast approaching." Babidi's eyes immediately locked on Josie's fearful ones with a grin.

...

"We're coming up on it guys," Trunks warned, glancing back at the Z fighters flying right behind him. He glanced to his left where an unsmiling Goten flew beside him, keeping stride with him; Feeling optimism and a rush of adrenaline hit him, Trunks sped up. A few hundred feet away he felt his Father's power level speed up and felt the quick steel grip of his father's hand at the back of his head, stopping him from moving forward. He glanced to the side seeing Goten in a similar hold.

"Though it is rewarding for me to see my son thirst for battle, I want to make sure that your head is clear before we go in there." When he felt his son nod, Vegeta's grip loosened and he placed his hands on their shoulders instead, turning Trunks more towards him to study his countenance.

Yes, there was anger and righteous indignation, but he also recognized the mirror image of something Vegeta knew very well himself, bruised pride, reflected in his son's eyes; a pride that was likely howling at his inability to protect that little big eyed, impetuous, motor-mouth, miniature banshee friend of his that had gone and gotten herself killed.

Vegeta could feel Goku come up beside him.

"If someone gets their hands on Josie, you drop everything that you are doing and you get her out of there. Does everyone understand that?" Goku asked the group who simply nodded. "Good. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can end the horror this planet has been going through and go home." Vegeta continued to focus on his son.

"You two watch each others backs," Vegeta ordered, squeezing both boys shoulders. "Use clear judgement - and fuse if you feel it necessary." The others began their descent towards the island but Vegeta held on to the two boys. "What you're feeling right now, over your squeaking human friend, **use it**." He said firmly. "Use the worry, the confusion, and that all consuming anger and make them pay," Vegeta looked at Goten pointedly, knowing that Goku's youngest knew what he thought Josie's fate had been. Goten nodded crisply, starting to feel that familiar stream of Saiyan Power course through his veins. Goten looked over at Trunks who looked very much the same way he felt.

Ready.

"Subtlety has been long over used in this battle and this gridlock has grown stale - show them who they've mistakingly crossed." Vegeta challenged, squeezing their shoulders as they transformed into Super Saiyans and flew forward.

...

_They're here? they know_? Josie's heart drummed rapidly in her chest as she backed up. Did they even know that this was Babidi? were they ready to face whatever this sick little wrinkley guy had in store for them or were they coming in blindly just to save her reckless butt? Regardless, she had to warn them...

"I suppose we'll just have to hurry this along, won't we?" Babidi said to Arapaima with an exaggerated sigh. "You've caused me a great headache, Dr. as have you, little girl...oh my, she's escaping," Babidi said, sounding completely disinterested and untroubled. He smiled when Kuji effortlessly grabbed her as she made a mad dash for the door; finding even greater amusement in her desperate and feeble struggles to get free. "It's really too bad you have no physical power." Babidi said over her shouts and screams, as she clawed at Kuji who stoically held her. "**TELL ME!" **Babidi shouted suddenly with a malicious glee. "Tell me what you're feeling now." Babidi goaded as he stood in his chair, eyes wide with a large grin on his face. "Are you angry?" Kuji held her arms behind her back to keep her struggling at bay, "Angry that he's barely having to put the most minimal of effort to keep you still - while you throw everything you have at him?" As if to prove Babidi's point, Kuji reduced his hold to two fingers, still able to keep her perfectly still as he put his other hand over her mouth to quiet her screams. "You must be feeling pretty desperate right now." Babidi continued.

"Hmm but no..." He noted with amusement. "Its more anger than anything else, isn't it? It reviles you to feel Kuji holding you like a worthless rag doll, completely at his mercy." Eyes bridled with maddening fury immediately came up to connect with his and Babidi's grin grew wider. "Yes, there it is." He said delightedly. "That anger inside of you, that untapped seething hatred... You know what I think? I think if I gave you the chance to get Kuji to let go of you and run for freedom to warn your friends or to have the power to make him pay dearly for how he hurt you, you'd choose to make him pay, wouldn't you?"

She didn't have to say anything for him to know the answer. Josie only stared at him, body shaking.

"Teenagers are so easy." Babidi remarked to the quiet Namek beside him. "I remember what that's like." He laughed at his own jokes, incredibly pleased with her rapt attention. "You've intrigued me, little girl." He admitted, evil smile in place as he looked at her through a side eye. "**I will grant you your wish**," Josie shook her head frantically from behind Kuji's hand as her eyes widened and her body fought even more desperately than before - switching between sagging and throwing her body towards Kuji in a frenzied attempt to get free as Babidi put his arms forward and a dark foggy substance came out towards her.

...

Bulma sat inside of Josie's room on her bed, a pillow to her chest as she stared out Josie's window through blurry eyes.

_***flashback***_

_Bulma turned to look over the two girls, frowning as she noticed their torn up clothes and injuries. Vegeta tensed when he heard - the now to him familiar - high pitch noise emit from the taller of the two girls. He took a step toward her._

_"Don't you dare.." He hissed._

_"Dare what?" Bulma asked, confused, as she now heard the loud noise herself and blinked in shock, barely able to stop herself from dropping her cup of coffee when one of the girls unleashed a small scream and started rambling happily, fifty miles per hour._

_"-'snowaythati'minaroomwithBulma,Goku,and Vegetaatthesametime!" Josie ranted quickly, happily smiling at the confused Bulma._

_"I…what?" She asked blinking, rubbing an ear._

_"Would you like me to repeat myself?" Josie offered._

_"NO-" Vegeta attempted._

_I just said that, who would have thought that I'd be here with you, Goku, and Vegeta in the same…-" She trailed off when she saw Valerie shaking her head to stop her. "I…uh. I've…read magazine…articles, about you...?" She offered lamely trying to back peddle._

_***End Flashback**_

She laughed through her tears, wiping at her eyes and quietly sniffling to herself; from the moment the others had told her about finding Josie's blood, she couldn't shake off the bad feeling that something terrible was happening and her heart was breaking into a million pieces over it and it hadn't stopped since. She squeezed her eyes shut as she fought to keep her chin from quivering again; It hadn't taken long at all for the two girls to cement themselves into her heart and she knew in part it had largely to do with the effect she'd seen them have on her children. She sniffled, grabbing a tissue from the box she realized she'd need to cart around - as soon as the guys left and her bravado left her.

She pictured the blue eyes of her son. Trunks was so much like her; He was so determined, so driven to succeed. He had always known he would be the heir to her Father's company and didn't bat an eyelash over his fate. He moved up the ladder and did everything that he had to do and never slowed down, despite being so young; Sure there were moments he flaked from work or took a day to breathe in fresh air but despite having everything, he never truly seemed to enjoy all he'd been given or the people around him. He had never stopped to play a very active role in his kid sister's life either and he drifted away from Goten as his focus became Capsule Corp and Goten's focus had become dating.

She hugged the pillow closer as she sniffled. But ever since the girls came into their lives, all the kids seemed to do was hang out together. Goten seemed to have forgotten all about dating, her son laughed and morphed into a normal teenager and her daughter had found girls to look up too. Her two kids had bonded more over the appearance of these two girls in the last two months than they had in years. They seemed brighter, happier, more excited - especially her too quickly grown up son.

Unable to contain herself, she wept, wishing desperately things had been different.

...

"...So interesting." Babidi said, completely engrossed, as he studied Josie's limp form folded over on the ground. "...You're right about one thing," Babidi said to his companion beside him. "She's not normal - definitely unlike any human I've dealt with before, although equally annoying. Rise, little brat, we haven't got the time to get you adjusted." Josie was sitting on her calves, body propped up by her quivering hands, hair covering her face as her eyes darted from one spot on the ground to another, brow furrowed.

After a few seconds, she sat up straight, staring directly at Babidi, wordlessly. Babidi only grinned at her.

"If you hadn't amused me, I would have never bothered with you, I don't think I've come across a weaker specimen in my life." Her eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"...My apologies," She said dryly. He waved it off.

"Inconsequential at this point, how do you feel now?" Josie swallowed, studying her forearms and fists.

"Different." She said simply. Babidi laughed.

"What an understatement. Now, listen very carefully to me, little girl" Josie's rapt attention immediately was his as he came off his chair and came to her, making a pair of scissors appear out of thin air and handing them to her. "I want you to hide that mark on your forehead and I want you to follow Kuji back to a cell - no," He said firmly, when he saw her attention slowly shift over her shoulder to Kuji behind her. "I'll give you a chance later," He assured, knowing exactly where her mind was going. "But now we have to focus on our approaching guests, do you understand me?" Josie turned back to Babidi and nodded. "Good." Josie looked around from her spot on the ground for a shiny surface to cut her hair in but didn't see one and failed to notice the quiet Namek beside Babidi approach her and hand her a hand held one. She carefully took it from him, cut her hair to create bangs that covered the M there. She stood up and faced Babidi who nodded his approval and dismissed her with a hand. She turned ready to leave with Kuji and hesitated, glancing back at Babidi.

"...Master?" She questioned.

"What is it?" Babidi asked with annoyance.

"You didn't tell me what the orb was beside you." Babidi looked at it with disgust.

"It's my temporary ball and chain." He said with more irritation than before. "You're going to help me kill your friends and we're going to make a wish on the Dragon for my eternal life. The life force I obtained from those useless sorcerers was weak and they were unwilling to sacrifice more through ritual so my visit to this existence is temporary unless I can get that wish. Anymore stupid questions or can we focus on the task at hand?" He bit out moodily, Josie bowed in apology. "Good, make sure you look...terrified when they get there - I don't want them know you're mine until the right time." She nodded and exited a few feet behind Kuji, body tense and ready to react at the slightest unexpected move. He stood beside an open cell, waiting for her to go in.

She refused to move, she stood still and simply stared at him, the desire to hurt him fatally hard to resist. He continued to hold the door open, simply staring back, silently daring her to defy their Masters orders. Josie stepped forward slowly and went into the cell, letting him close it equally slow, a smile on his face.

Before she could stop herself she grabbed the back of his neck slamming him against the cell and holding out her other hand wide open in front of his neck, focusing on his bobbing adams apple.

"Somebody did this to me once, let me see if I can get this right..." She explained, fire burning through her veins as she shook to control a tiny flicker on her palm. She caught Arapaima at the corner of her eye and before she could turn he blasted her against her cell wall.

"Bad girl." He reprimanded, pushing the quickly angering Kuji away and giving him a warning look before turning back to the girl. "Do as the master says and look even more pathetic than you do now." Josie remained on the ground, breathing heavily, headache throbbing harder than before. She rolled onto her back - her breathing becoming more erratic when he left - as she blinked away tears and her chest heaved up and down.

Everything hurt; not at all resembling the agonizing pain she'd experienced before at Kuji's hand, nor had Arapaima's blast cause this pain, but whatever Babidi had done to her was burning her _**inside**_. She covered her face with her hands, breath coming out in shuddered gasps for a few seconds as her pain filled mind tried to come up with a plan to save the others and herself.

He had failed. She wasn't under Babidi control. But he thought she was and that was good. She attempted to feel the mark she'd seen on her forehead earlier and couldn't make it out. She flinched, her insides still felt like they were on fire, and she was pretty sure that despite having failed to take her over, Babidi had still pumped her full of something dark. How much or how little he had gotten in, she had no idea, but she hadn't felt even a slight inclination to do anything he'd asked her to do out of anything other than preservation nor had she felt any sense of loyalty the way the others seemed too. All Josie felt was a little more irritable than usual and...itchy.

_So that's it? I can't even get taken over properly? Val would have a field day with this one... _She almost smiled at that but found she couldn't manage it; instead she sighed, rolling over and picked herself up into a standing position. One thing was for certain, she was stronger - if she wasn't, the impact against the wall would have surely broken a rib or two and though she did feel sore, she otherwise felt just fine. She brought up her forearms to study the throbbing limbs and squeezed her fists experimentally, frowning. She was grateful that the burning sensation was very slowly easing, but it was still underneath the surface of her skin and was mostly replaced by the violent thudding of her heart beat reverberating in her arms and legs that she didn't like any better.

She felt like she had taken an energy drink ... or seven, because every part of her seemed to beat and throb with a need to release that fire that made her palms itch fiercely. She rubbed her left palm hard as she contemplated her situation anxiously: Was she really in control? Or did she just think she was?

Maybe Babidi was the one making her feel this way. It didn't feel like it but it was impossible to know for sure. She came to the bars of her cell, wrapping her hands around them as she recalled Babidi's instructions. He had asked her to look nervous and afraid when the Z fighters got here and she snickered, knowing that wouldn't be difficult at all to pull off since she felt like she was becoming unglued inside.

Was this what power felt like?

She pulled her hands away when she noticed how hard they were trembling on the bars - a brand new fear worming its way into her mind.

_What if my body can't handle_- She gasped when she heard a loud blast and the ground moved beneath her and she stumbled, quickly stepping back until she felt the wall - keeping herself braced as small bits of debris came down.

Were those **her **friends doing that? Josie couldn't help but grin as another blast resounded, shaking the very walls she was holding on too. Regardless of what happened now, she thought - as she let herself slide down against the wall - her friends were here now. She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her grin into them, unable to stop herself from laughing out loud.

This nightmare was finally going to end.

* * *

_Reviews:_

_**Sexy And I Know It 123321:**__ Did I comment on your username before? if I didn't, I apologize, but I need you to know it is amazing, and so are you!_

_I__**mmatureChild:**__ its ending! Finally lol I'm so ready to get off Namek. I hope you've been well and we both know Josie, hell shall definitely be given! ;)_

_PrincessPorsha: Thank you! I love Puchi too *Re-reads to see if he's in this chapter* doesn't look like he's in this chapter but I promise he has adorable scenes in the next one! _

_**Shinningheart of ThunderClan**__: "RAWRZ, I'MMA KEEL JOUS" is the best line I've ever seen someone write in a review, I just needed you to know that lol to answer your question though: this all seems slowed down but truly is in seconds that the large enemy gets between Goku and Josie, if he made the time to go get her, I don't honestly think he would have been able to get to Puchi and the way Goku's character is built- though he loves family and friends, I think he's always willing to sacrifice for the innocent. If you recall during the Majin Buu fight, his sons were passed out on the ground and he chooses to save the helpless Hercule instead. That always broke my heart but was so interesting to me. Just my two cents though :) _

_**Thomas Drovin**__: If you're still around after all this, my friend, I just don't know what to say but Thank you. And yes! turns out it was Babidi, I considered changing it but decided to keep it as it was in the original. And hopefully this chapter explained how he got out, sorcerers (Similar to what Elder Kai did for Goku in giving his life) allowed the strongest member of their planet to give his life for Babidi's, in hope that he would help them. Maybe some day in the future I can go back and revisit this planet of people and explain their desperation, what got them to where they were and why Babidi was the last resort for them. But thankfully, there was a catch! so Babidi isn't totally free. _

_**Evalyd Yamazaki**__: I thought a lot about your observation and I've gone back and re-watched some DBZ/GT footage, particularly GT and I still remain pretty comfortable with this. The way I see Trunks emotions in that scene playing out is: since they arrived Josie and Valerie have continually proven how physically weak they are time and time again. From the beginning differences between species have continually pointed out to these girls coming from a much more fragile race than what they are used too. And Josie was already hurt before and he saw what kind of recovery they ended up needing for just a throat injury. Now he sees this fragile girl, whom he's bonded with SIGNIFICANTLY since then and he's promised to respect/protect her constantly to his mother, to Josie herself, and to this girls best friend. In his eyes, he sees this helpless girl who never stood a chance with hair matted with blood, unconscious and awkwardly hanging on this man. You name it: all that they've had to go through, all the people who've suffered, his defenseless friend now amongst them, lack of ability to prevent any of this, fear, worry, and that famous Saiyan anger. I hope this makes a little bit of sense, if not, whoops X_X lol. _

_**GVLuver:**__ Thank you so so so much for all the chapter reviews you gave me. I love hearing specific lines and moments you loved. You are the best, thank you!_

_**Lazymazy:**__ I hope you kept reading and kept laughing! thanks so much for the review._

_**GirXzimXfanatic: **__I felt so silly when I read your review, I legitimately giggled like a school girl and murmured aloud, "This person enjoys my writing style. How friggin awesome!" thank you so much for that wonderful compliment. I'm so grateful and humbled. Thank you!_

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**Note:** I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted to post this chapter as it is now, but I left it hanging for so long I just decided to just post it. Its been completed for months but my paranoia that it was missing something wouldn't let me post it. Whatever I lacked in this i'll try to make up for in future chapters, I just wanted to get the ball rolling again. I apologize, and hope some of you keep reading. Thank you all and hope you've all had a great year so far! Review when you get a chance please : )


	32. Chapter 32: Slipping Away

**Disclaimer**: Do not own #longchapterletsgo

Thank you's: Typically I do this at the bottom of the chapter but I wanted to switch it up. You'll see why.

**Thomas Drovin:** I really cant wait to see what you have to say about this chapter, my friend! and I'm so glad you liked the Bulma scene! it was the one I enjoyed most too :)

**ImmatureChild:** Another Bulma moment fan, it is seriously so rewarding to see people sympathizing with these moments for these characters like I do. I get giddy! lol. And you're absolutely right, poop is indeed hitting the fan today!

**GVLuver:** YES! I loved the twist at the end too. This chapter may shock too ;) and more of my favorite Vegeta scenes in this chapter too! so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

**Kurisetina:** I hope you enjoy it! its the long "Season finale" for the New Namek saga.

**GirXzimXfanatic:** Thank you for asking me the question I was hoping people were wondering about. And yes, yes, yes - I loved reading all your observations. I did some of those things for myself but I love that someones catching them (The fact that our humans are weaker, can't take the kind of hits dbz characters/even humans there take). Thank you so much for all your feedback.

**Popie92:** Aaah! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on it.

**Buzzk97:** I know that exact feeling from other stories I've read on that I loved. The fact that I created that feeling for you is... indescribable. Thank you! I would love to read what you think about this next one!

**Evalyd Yamazaki:** Haha, I know, I have such a terrible habit of doing that. I just wasn't satisfied for some reason and I still may regret not adding whatever my brain won't tell it is, that I needed to add but I'm just glad to be posting again :)

**Clayton1998:** Haha, no better way to summarize it then "Bout Time!" I agree. I'm so glad you're still reading this!

**Feloalberto:** I know you didn't technically review but you did PM me with something very akin to one so, first of all, FANTASTIC observation, you are the only person to point out this "Pet" of Babidi's, but we may be talking about two different people so I'll leave that for next time. As for the wizards from the Tapion movie, I have actually yet to see that one but now I will be checking that out soon to make sure I didn't straight up copy that unintentionally! Please feel free to review anytime, I love hearing your observations!

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**Final Note:** This is the final chapter for the New Namek saga portion of the story, it'll be a long one so please listen to some soft tunes, sit back, relax and (hopefully) enjoy! and please please, let me know what you thought! There will still be a few more chapters with Namek in it, but nothing relating to the fight so if questions aren't answered here for you, they may be in future chapters still.

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**Dude Where's My World?**

Revised

**Chapter 32**: Slipping Away

They'd been waiting for them.

As soon as the boys had blasted the small island it had revealed a partially viewable ship that they had been scouring the planet for what felt like endless days now. A flood of red armor wearing soldiers burst out of it, not looking even the slightest bit alarmed at their 'Surprise Attack'.

No words were said as the combatants met and moved in a flurry of attacks that were nearly impossible to see with the naked human eye.

Vegeta noted that regardless of whether he'd meant it when he promised to fight undistracted, Trunks was unfocused, eyes constantly darting to the ship, taking another shot to the face from close range from his opponent. Vegeta grunted as his own side tracked mind made him take his eyes off of HIS own opponent - if he could even be called that - he thought with a smirk, as he extended an open palm in his direction and wordlessly blasted him into the next dimension. Realizing he did not have the time to enjoy himself he spun in the air looking for his son, growling when he noticed him zig zagging towards the ship entrance for all of two seconds before he was surrounded by seven soldiers.

"GOTEN." Vegeta barked, when he caught Goten's eyes, he pointed towards his son and needing no further direction, the boy headed straight for his best friend.

Momentarily satisfied, Vegeta finally assessed his own situation. Babidi had sent his weakest first; That much was clear now. He huffed in disgust, dropping straight down from his spot in the air, catching them off guard and letting out one bellowed scream as he blasted upward and destroyed them all - barely able to put his hands down before a whole other mass of soldiers tackled him.

He howled in frustration as he powered up, making them all fly off in different directions, "ENOUGH!" He shouted, vein visibly throbbing in his temple. His eyes scanned the air below and saw Goten caught up with a black armored soldier. Amongst the Z fighters fighting he could not see Goku anymore and felt himself immediately grow more and more irate at the thought that he was likely inside fighting the real threats, while he was out here playing patty cake with the children.

He took for the entrance, only bothering to power up his aura if an enemy got to close, opting to blast another one in the face for good measure, right before he shot inside.

...

"What?" Valerie asked, a frown on her face as she softly shook her head in unintentional denial. ".Babidi...Are you sure?" Dende nodded.

"I'm afraid so."

"Oh man.." Krillin groaned. "And we left him around Vegeta again? and my **wife**?" Dende and Valerie looked at him with surprise, surprised that he'd make a comment like that. Krillin laughed, shaking his head. "Sorry guys, I joke when I'm nervous." Valerie turned back to Dende.

"How did this happen?"

"I wish I had more answers for you." Dende said with a frown. "But unfortunately, I have just as many questions as..." Distracted, Dende turned his head to the side, a small smile coming onto his face. "Excuse me a second, please." Confused, Valerie followed his and Krillin's line of sight, eyes widening when she saw a miniature Namekian coming out of the look out.

"Guys! Look what I found!" Pan exclaimed, eyes wide and a large grin on her face, her hand holding Puchi's little one. "A little Namek!" Valerie's eyes widened as she stared at Dende in shock.

"Did you have a baby?" She blurted out. Immediately Dende's eyes bugged out and the look of horror made Valerie regret her question.

"WHAT?" He shouted, voice raising a few octaves. "Of course not!" Blush covered her cheeks, as Krillin laughed uncontrollably. Dende could only stand there, purple blush covering his cheeks as Puchi and Pan approached them happily, unaware.

"I just walked into a closet to grab a few things and there he was hiding underneath a mop- uh.. everyone okay here?" Pan asked, noticing the blushing duo and the gasping for air Krillin. "Krillin, why are you laughing?" Pan asked with some annoyance, a little fist on her hip. "I don't like being laughed at!"

Krillin immediately shook his head, attempting to stop, but the thought of Dende becoming a father at his age, rocking a little Namek in his arms was just too funny... and _uncle Piccolo_, he laughed harder. Valerie elbowed him lightly.

"Stop that!" She tried, mortified. Dende cleared his throat, turning to the two, attempting to regain his composure as he came down to be near Puchi's height. "Good afternoon Puchi, can I ask how on planet earth you ended up in the closet?"

"I... I heard footsteps." He explained anxiously.

The tone in his voice, the vulnerability in those simple three words immediately caught their attention and sobered Krillin, as Valerie stared back at the little boy, curiously. Pan nodded, sympathetic look coming back over her features as she patted the little boy on the head.

"Yeah he told me that too, I tried to explain that I hadn't meant to startle him but... he wanted to see you." Pan said to Dende, helplessly shrugging. "I'm sorry Dende."

Dende gave her a comforting smile and waved the apology away, "Don't worry, Pan - I am sure it was an accident," He assured. "Puchi, these are my friends and some of earths greatest defenders." Pan's chest puffed up, Krillin gave him a light wave and Valerie scratched the back of her neck uncomfortably; but Puchi visibly perked a little at that, staring back at them a little more boldly, with equal curiosity.

"Like the others?" He questioned quietly. Dende nodded.

"Just like the others." He assured.

"So... what's up Dende? is this little guy your cousin or do you usually sit on Sundays and we just weren't aware.." Krillin attempted to question, confused. Puchi asked Dende something in Namekian, repeating the word '_Cousin_' with confusion.

"He's clearly from Namek." Pan said shrugging. Understanding came into Valerie's eyes.

"Did they drop him off here?" She asked quickly, eyes studying the little boy for clues as to what was happening on the planet. "Did they drop everyone off here?" She added, looking back around for any sign of others. Puchi came to stand next to Dende, staring up at him, feeling somewhat uncomfortable again.

"Valerie, I'd like to ask you to reserve your questions for later, if you do not mind." Dende asked, smiling. "Puchi's been through a traumatic experience and he startles very easily at the moment." Valerie expression immediately became remorseful, as she got down low and attempted to look as unthreatening as possible.

"I'm sorry about that, Puchi, right?" She asked with a smile. "My name is Valerie but you can call me Val if you want. My friend went to see if she could help on your planet and I'm just a little worried about her so I got a little carried away." She explained. "But I'm glad you're here."

"She." Puchi repeated the term carefully. "Girl?...Human?" Valerie nodded with a smile.

"Yeah. Two human girls went to your planet, my friend is the one with hair sort of like mine." She said picking at her hair as he took a look.

"...Loud." He said after a minute, making her laugh.

"Yeah." She confirmed with a grin, relieved to hear of her being okay. "That's Josie." He nodded slowly, his face scrunching up with sorrow, making Valerie's eyes widen in surprise, stomach sinking as she tried to keep her mind from making too much of his expression. "Hehe...you uh... saw her huh?" She asked carefully. He nodded, head bowed.

"She hurt."

...

The interior of the ship on New Namek was reminiscent of Freeza's that Vegeta remembered from his youth. He sneered at it in disgust, shooting through the hallways whilst attempting to feel out a familiar Ki signature. He came to a stop in a round lobby, sensing Goku clearly to his left and his son, somewhere to his right, fighting an equal power level.

Frustration began to build as he felt his son's power level taking significant blows. Apparently his son had decided to skip the light meat above and had come right to the stronger opponents in an attempt to get to his weak friend faster. He turned his head slightly to the left feeling Kakarrot now as well as his adversary; his opponent was significantly stronger than the one Trunks was facing and he could practically taste the waiting challenge there that Goku was taking all for himself.

Eyes narrowed, Vegeta extended his hand in that direction and pulling the power quickly he released it, smirking when it blew large symmetric holes across three rooms and singed the hair on Goku's head, who looked through the hole in surprise. When he saw Vegeta he grinned at him for a moment before he yelped as he was knocked out of view. Vegeta grinned, promising himself he'd head in that direction very soon to show Goku's opponent a **real** match.

Feeling a secondary power level attacking his son, he flew in that direction without further delay, blowing another two walls in quick succession, barely catching a glimpse of the white armored alien on his son before rearing up his foot and forcing his boot to crash down on the man's chin, nearly breaking it. Trunks landed on the ground with a thud, quickly turning to look up at his savior, wiping the blood off his lip with a small smile.

His smile immediately fell away when he heard distant shouting; Apparently his father heard it too, because his head snapped in the direction of the sound in complete shock, one second before he was punched across the face and sent reeling to the floor next to Trunks by the secondary opponent.

Both father and son stood in another moment, hardly missing a beat, back to back, as they caught their breath. "I can hear her, I'll get her." Trunks said quickly.

"No." Vegeta said just as quickly. "Someone stronger than these two goons is with her. I'll handle it." He could see the brief hesitation before his son finally nodded. "Goten's coming. You two handle these two insects." Sparing only a second long enough for Goten to come into the room, Vegeta took off down a hallway, Josie's shouts sounding louder.

H_ow the hell is she alive? _He questioned himself, frowning. She was as good as dead. He'd seen the blood and he knew first hand just how weak the girl was. He could feel her ki now, though and it felt different from before. Not missing a step he blew open a set of double doors and finally saw her: the vain of his existence. He snarled automatically at the wide eyed girl who pressed herself back, away from the cell bars.

"..Vegeta?" She asked, surprised, barely having a moment to digest the fact that HE of all people was rescuing her, before she screamed, "LOOK OUT." He immediately powered up, his ki pushing strongly outward, stopping the attack in mid air, before blowing his opponent completely away.

From within the walls of her cell, Josie slammed back against the ship as well from the power up, cringing at the bright light now illuminating the mostly dim room. She groaned as she landed on the ground, standing back up a few seconds later, rubbing her left shoulder unhappily as she attempted to keep up with the fight in front of her, her heart hammering in her chest.

He was here. Vegeta.

Of **ALL **the people in the world, HE was here. She laughed at the realization that she would have been less surprised if Hercule himself had burst through the door to save her, rather than him. Josie gasped and stumbling back when the two opponents slammed against her caving-in cell, making small bits of debris come down around her again.

Worst rescue mission ever, she thought, if her cell was going to crush her to death due to her rescuer beating her cell guard into every wall of the long but otherwise small room. "Vegeta be careful!" She shouted, receiving only an, '_Are you kidding me right now_?' Look for her trouble.

She grinned, oh yeah, he still hated her guts.

Josie furiously looked around for a way to get out of the cage while the two men met each other with fierce blows.

_Come-on, Come-on_, Josie thought desperately feeling the walls for a secret door. There was always supposed to be a secret door, right?Nothing. _Go figure! _She thought angrily, elbowing the wall with annoyance; to her surprise, her elbow burst into the wall. She yelped and immediately pulled it out and held it protectively, expecting her arm to be bleeding. She studied it as best she could, turning it this way and that finding only a small scratch.

"Huh." She mumbled with fascination as she inspected the small hole in the wall. She flinched, ducking down when she heard the two powerful beings colliding; she rushed towards the cell bars and saw the creature slam the inside of his forearm at Vegeta's neck, slamming a hole into the wall and disappearing out of view. A moment later they came through the wall again, this time closer to her cell in the wall; Josie gasped, pushing herself away from the bars and with adrenaline pumping through her veins she threw her elbow at the small hole in the wall fast and furiously, terrified, as white powdered debris continued to land on her head with every closer hit the two opponents landed. The hole was almost big enough, if she could only...

Only seconds later after that thought, Vegeta slammed the 7 foot tall black monster's head through the wall right across Josie and into the wall above her cell, realizing as soon as he'd done it that it had been a mistake. The formation above Josie's cell came down in a moment muffling her scream. Muttering a curse, Vegeta threw the limp body to the side and quickly dropped to the ground, eyes scanning the rubble for the girl, furious at the girls weakness and at his own display of recklessness when the whole purpose for him heading this way was to find the weakling. He frowned when he felt her ki...pulsating, he took a step forward moving a few pieces of rubble out of the way before he began to see a burgundy glow.

He paused momentarily, before resuming picking off more and more rubble that laid above a pulsating force. He rapidly pulled off the rest, incredulity on his face as he finally uncovered Josie underneath the rubble, huddled in a ball, with a burgundy force field projecting apparently from **her**, protectively cocooning her from the fallen wreckage that would have surely crushed her.

Despite the shock, he reached for her arm, and was immediately stopped by the force field. Eyes narrowing, he roughly called her name, to which she immediately turned, dropping the glow as she gulped, shakily getting up as she eyed the destruction. "Thanks." She mumbled, "Not so close next time huh?" She tried to joke, confused as to why he was staring at her the way he was; mouth slightly ajar, looking completely caught off guard, by...her.

"Vegeta?" She asked. "...VEGETA!" He turned but was immediately picked up by the throat with a crushing grip by the black monster. "NO!" She said strongly, coming up beside Vegeta, trying to unhook the gigantic hand of the monster from his neck. "Please let him go!" She insisted, receiving only a growl and a shove for her efforts. He threw her clear across the hall and out of view, Vegeta only able to hear the thud as she hit a wall forcefully. Vegeta flinched, knowing the girl was likely going to have to be carried out unconscious after that nasty hit. He tried to power up, finding it hard too to do with the brain numbing grip cutting off his air supply.

"Most of his power is in his arms." Vegeta's eyes turned to the side, gasping, from lack of oxygen and possibly with surprise, Josie was up and walking back to them; scratches and blood at the corner of her lip and rubbing the back of her head with a grimace. She kept her eyes on the monster this time. "He told me about it - I have no idea why he would do that - but I guess bad guys never are the smartest crayons in the crayon box, are they?" Josie asked rhetorically as she wiped at her lip with a flinch. "Friggin ay.." She mumbled.

The monster lifted his hand to hit her again but she stepped back. "Freeze!" She said angrily, his arm stopping in mid air. "Can you get free?" She asked Vegeta who forcefully pulled his neck back, having felt no more tightening. He rubbed his neck angrily, staring at the monster who just stood there staring at Josie, seeming frozen.

Vegeta eyed him warily for only a second before powering up back to Super Saiyan and preparing a blast. "Move." He said angrily to Josie, voice hoarse. She immediately went to go stand a few feet behind him, shielding her eyes as he blew the creature to the next dimension.

"..." He turned to look at her, reminding her then of the day that they had met, the taut set of his shoulders, the way his body seemed braced for any unexpected movement she may make. She raised an eyebrow, giving him a hesitant smile.

"Vegeta?" She asked, unsure.

"Don't. Let's go." He commanded, nodding for her to walk in front of him.

"Where are we going?" She asked, doing as he demanded without complaint.

"We're getting you out of here." He answered shortly. "You're little game has put us all in danger." She cringed at that, he still sure had a way of cutting her right to the bone.

"I'm-"

"Shut up." He cut off harshly.

"I can help, Vegeta." She pleaded, turning to him desperately before they left the room. "I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry." She cried, hurt and despair clear in her voice as she pleaded, with her hands up.

"You have absolutely **NO** idea... h-how sorry I am. But I can help fix this." She promised, almost reaching for him but warned by an upheld hand that he would not tolerate it. "There's this orb that Babidi has," She continued, undeterred. "He called it his '_Ball and chain_'. Vegeta, If we can break that I'm sure Babidi's doomed - or at least vulnerable- Vegeta!" She shouted, despaired as he simply walked past her, uninterested. "PLEASE." She pressed urgently. "I can help you they all think I'm under his power!" She blurted out.

Vegeta stopped at that and looked over his shoulder at her. "All of them," She continued. I'm not and please don't freak out." She raised her bangs, hopeful, and she knew instantaneously that it had been a bad idea. His face twisted angrily as he turned fully to her, powered up once more. "Nononono." She attempted to assure, eyes wide and hands held up in submissiveness. "I promise I'm on your side. I don't know how, but I am - I promise! We can use this to our advantage!" She insisted, cringing as he took a step forward, not looking like he was listening to a word she was saying. "If they think I'm with them," She went on quickly. "They'll trust me and I can get close enough to get the orb."

He finally slowed to a stop and Josie exhaled, a hand dropping to her painfully racing heart. She took a labored breath, grimacing. "He can't control me but he thinks he can," She summed up. "So please let me help, I-I'll help you get the ball, you can get rid of him and this'll be gone." She said signaling her forehead. "We'll go back to earth," He snarled and she flinched. "...I'll stay as far away from you as possible until the Dragon Balls come back and I'll go home, **I promise** I'll go home." She pleaded. "I'll go home and you'll never have to see me again." She assured, eyes filling with tears. "In fact...I think we may even be able to use one of the wishes with the Dragon Balls here." She bit her bottom lip anxiously. "Wish me away and send Val home with the earth ones if you need the other wishes. I'm the one you hate anyway, right?" She asked and received no answer other than a suspicious look. "I'll go away, I promise - Just please please let me make this right. I have to do _something_ right." She begged passionately.

He could never tell with her. Was she sincere? or a damn good actress? He could barely resist Babidi's control - how was SHE resisting it? if she was resisting it at all. And where had this power come from? this manifestation of unusual power; wasn't part of Babidi's ability to unlock potential?

Is that what this was? what she was displaying? He studied her throughout her ramble with disgust and spit to the side. "Get it." He barely said through gritted teeth. "Get this orb and go home. I don't want you near mine." He couldn't have broken her spirit more if he'd reached in her chest and taken out her beating heart.

This look he was giving her now was worse than the one he'd given her at the very beginning; if he didn't like her and distrusted her then, she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he plainly loathed and reviled her now. She nodded slowly and turned to leave, arms tucked underneath the other to hide the profuse shaking. "This ship looks a lot like Frieza's." Josie explained quietly, annoying him with the unintentional reminder that she knew his past. She caught the irritation in his look from the reference and moved on. "I just-.. i meant to say that it looks like that ship physically but has the same structure of Babidi's old one. Levels." She said pointing to the ground. "Theirs no center entrance like his old ship, just stairs. This one is stronger though and bigger, obviously." Signaling to the wide expanse of every room. "They probably intended for their to be some fighting in here, eventually."

"Lets get this over with." He said with annoyance.

"**JOSIE!**" Josie turned just in time as she was scooped up into the arms of Trunks and spun quickly two times before another set of arms encircled her back.

Trunks and Goten.

She recognized them immediately and let herself sag in their embrace, blissfully happy, and_ finally_ feeling safe. Her friends were here. They _had_ come to rescue her. She wrapped one arm around Trunks and fished for Goten's hand - giving them both a desperately grateful squeeze.

"You're here." She choked out happily, in awe. In response their arms tightened.

"Of course we're here." Trunks said strongly.

"How are you alive!" Goten exclaimed happily, muffling himself with her back.

"Goten!" Trunks scolded, whacking him quickly on the head before pulling her out from his best friends reach and studied her closely for damage, immediately noting the blood with displeasure. "You're bleeding." He said unhappily, as he wiped the blood at the corner of her mouth carefully, making her choke out a hysterical laugh at the absurdity of his worry over THAT tiny scratch. Her laugh startled him and she shut up when she saw the look Vegeta was giving her from behind him.

Understanding flashed in her eyes, of course Trunks didn't know what Kuji had done to her, how could he? Although Vegeta seemed too, by the warning look he was giving her to keep quiet, and Goten couldn't seem to make eye contact anymore, looking as guilty as she'd ever seen him so it seemed safe to say that he probably knew too. Josie smiled reassuringly at Trunks.

"Sorry." She mumbled hoarsely, clearing her throat. "Long day." She dismissed with a smile. "We should..." Her smile disappeared when she saw Arapaima hovering a few feet behind Vegeta and she was barely able to open her mouth before he blasted both Vegeta and Goten down into the floor below.

Trunks whirled to look and immediately powered up to Super Saiyan, making Josie stumble slightly back.

"Stay back." Trunks warned Josie with concern.

"That's cute." Arapaima smiled with amusement before turning his attention to Josie. "The Master wants us to show them to their welcome present," Arapaima explained his interruption. "My understanding is Goku is there with it now. Would you like to take him or should I?" He asked Josie who only glared at him. "Still irritated by the hit earlier, are we? Fine, I'll do it."

In reply that he was ready, Trunks aura flared warningly. "No." Josie said impulsively. "I'll take care of it, you see to his dad, he won't stay down." Arapaima looked down at the hole he'd made a few seconds earlier and realized she was right.

"Hmm.." He nodded. "Fine, don't be long." He warned, shooting straight through the hole. Trunks remained facing that direction, his shoulders taut and fists clenched at his sides. He may have not understood everything Arapaima had just said to her but apparently Trunks had understood enough to put his guard up. Josie carefully made a large circle around his form to face him, making sure to keep a healthy distance, just incase he randomly lashed out. She studied his still pulsating golden aura and the change in his appearance carefully.

Beads of perspiration traced the frown lines on his face as he studied the ground, eyes shifting and Josie's heart melted; wishing that she could reach out to her friend. "..." She cleared her throat, smiling nervously. "I-I've seen your dad powered up." She mentioned lightly. "And I've even seen Goten powered up but I've never seen-" His eyes pinned hers then, and she swallowed nervously at the intensity there. He was not in the mood for small talk. "...yo-" She stepped back quickly when Vegeta and Arapaima shot up from the floor beneath, fighting a little ways above them.

"If I have to fight two at a time because you won't fight there's going to be hell to pay, girl-" Arapaima was cut off as Vegeta's elbow caught his nose.

"You're facing the Prince of All Saiyans, you mustard colored weakling-hell to pay is inevitable." Vegeta snarled.

I_ cant tell him I'm not under Babidi's control right now_, Josie thought, heart racing. Apologizing internally for the minute she'd have to fake, she blindly tried to will that burning lava inside her veins to her palms and pushed it out - faster and harder than she had expected - at Trunks whose eyes barely had time to widen before he crashed through the ceiling above with Josie jumping hot in pursuit; Josie flinching when she heard the howl of anger from Vegeta who must have seen the attack.

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

She landed on her feet on tile as Trunks coughed in the midst of bent and broken cafeteria tables, an arm wrapped around his middle; his eyes filled with shock and hurt trained on her as he attempted to regain his breath. He began to pick himself up painfully, but without a single iota of aggression or resentment towards her visible, making her heart constrict painfully in her chest and her eyes narrow.

"What is the matter with you." She spit out, angrily. "Hit me." She demanded, guilt and shame making her stomach clench painfully as he just stood there, staring at her as he attempted to regain his breath. "Don't just stand there looking sad and hurt. Babidi took me over." She reasoned aloud what he must already be thinking. "I have to be terrible for him to have been able to make me into whatever it is I am, right?" She figured, gesturing to herself. "I could have gotten you all killed," She reminded. "And your friends and family are getting the crap beat out of them because of my stupidity. Aren't you angry at me, at _all_?" She asked, rage in her eyes as she walked towards him.

"WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE!" She shouted. "He's supposed to be able to make me hurt you, SO HIT ME. STOP ME. Make me pay or I will..." She let the threat hang in the air, hand starting to form a dark energy again, as Trunks continued to just stand there, staring, with that same hurtful expression as she yelled in his face. "I'm bad!" She growled, infuriated. "**Don't you get it?!**" Her voice sounded hysterical, even to her but she needed to make him understand.

But there was nothing: no anger, no click in his eyes, just sympathy.

a guttural scream of frustration erupted from her, as she purposely let the dark ball of energy dissipate back into her. Enraged by his lack of self defense but unable to actually hurt him she used both hands to forcefully push him back onto another set of tables. "I'm a screw up, you idiot!" He slowly picked himself up, looking at her with that infuriating pity. "The entire planet knows I'm the biggest idiot in the world for getting myself into this mess, except apparently you." She accused as she quickly moved towards him. "I deserve this." She ground her teeth, eyes shutting tightly as tears pooled at the corners. "I deserve everything that happened... I-I should have never-" His hands carefully grabbed her arms and Josie flinched in expectation of pain - but before she could register any impact - her feet were off the ground and his bloody arms were around her lower back, cradling her body softly into his. And his lips were on hers.

Trunks was kissing her.

The contact was over almost as devastatingly fast as it came upon her and she could only try to catch her breath after, her eyes remaining shut as her heart hammered away in her chest, millions of thoughts rushing through her mind in a matter of seconds.

She faintly felt Trunks raise the bangs on her forehead and her eyes immediately shot open to see that he had powered down; blue eyes staring at the mark on her forehead with sorrow. When his eyes connected with her, she swallowed painfully at the determination she saw come into his eyes. "You have to fight it." He said thickly, lowering her back down to the ground, careful to avoid the hole on the ground that he'd been blasted through. He stepped back a small step to give her some space, keeping his hands on her shoulders. "Do you hear me?" He asked strongly. "I don't care what Babidi's making you do - I won't hurt you."

The anger came swiftly back into her eyes. "I deserve it." She insisted quietly. He shook his head adamantly and her shoulders for good measure.

"No. Josie, please fight-" She shook her head, removing his hands from her shoulders and was about to tell him the truth about Babidi's lack of control when she felt a hand encircle her ankle and yank her down, onto the floor below her again, making her yelp in surprise.

...

Valerie sat a few feet away from the edge of the Look out - she'd originally wanted to sit at the edge itself, letting her feet dangle but she wasn't that brave; instead she sat indian style a comfortable ten feet away, leaning back onto her palms behind her body, mind thousands of miles away as the conversation she and the others shared earlier came back to her mind for the millionth time.

_*Flashback*_

"_What do you mean 'she hurt'?" Valerie asked strongly, taking a step forward, panic in her eyes. Puchi watched her carefully, taking a step behind Dende who put a protective hand on his head and mentally reassured him. Valerie crouched back down._

"_Puchi, what did you see?"_

"_Kuji." Was all Puchi dared say, burying his face into Dende's pant leg, miserably, not wanting to remember anything he'd suffered or had to witness while imprisoned. _

_*End Flash back*_

They hadn't been able to get more from the boy other than that and - much to the boy's relief - Pan and Giru had shown up soon after to lighten the mood. The little Namekian and Robot had taken too each other quicker than any two people she'd ever known. She smiled as she recalled Giru doing tricks for Puchi who eagerly sat on the ground and clapped at any little thing the robot did as long as he said, _"Tada!"_ after.

Krillin came up quietly and sat down next to her. "I'm really sorry about your friend." Krillin said. "I meant what I said earlier, Val." She turned to look at him. "Remember? my best friend is possibly the strongest man in the universe, I'm pretty used to constantly worrying." Valerie smiled, looking back ahead with a small shake of her head.

"I cannot imagine anything like that," She said quietly. "How do you do it?" Krillin looked forward as well as he put real thought into the question, rubbing his chin lightly.

"I don't think anyones ever asked me that before." He said embarrassed, hand coming behind his head as he scratched it thoughtfully.

"What if your friend isn't like that at all?" Valerie asked, turning almost fully to him now, taking him back with the intensity of that question. "What if your friend is selfish and bull headed and impulsive and kind of naive?"

"Well..." He blinked. "..Uh, Goku's never been known to be the brighte...well..." He laughed, "You know what I mean, right?" Valerie nodded. "But that wasn't your question." He admitted. "You're telling me, Goku's motives are generally pure and to help others and Josie...isn't fully that way?"

"She isn't that way at all!" Valerie said, waving her arms in exasperation. "I'm quiet, she's loud, I'm neat - she's messy, I'm considerate - she's not so much, I think things through and she's just.. a train wreck."

"Could Babidi take her over?" Krillin asked the question he was sure Dende had been wondering himself. She nodded quietly.

"...Likely." Krillin nodded in response. He'd already considered attempting to contact Goku to tell him, but this late in the game, what was the point? the outcome of the battle was likely already determined. The others had left hours ago.

"He's my best friend," He finally answered after a minute of silence. "We were both as different as any two people could ever be." He reminded. "He changed me completely, Valerie. The way I felt about people, the way he cared - he saw things in me that not many did then and he trusted me - the way I trust him. Sometimes part of it is that he goes away," He said with a light shrug. "But I know he'll come back." He added. "Do you trust Josie?" She considered the question before finally nodding.

"I do."

"You know she'd do right by you in the end?" He asked, receiving another nod. "Maybe that's what she's always needed. A best friend like you. Someone to worry about her, the way I worry about Goku. Someone to show her a better way, to support her, be there for her - I'm not going to lie, it requires a lot of patience." He said smiling. "Just because he has good intentions, doesn't mean I always agree with or like what Goku does but I trust him, and he always does come back." He assured. "I'm sure she will too."

...

Josie's eyes registered a brief flash of concern on Trunks face before her body slammed down onto the opening, as she tried in vain to claw for a second, before she came right down - hitting the ground below quickly. Her eyes crossed for a second before she was able to shake her head into clearing, blinking at the angry face of Vegeta above her.

"We had a deal." He snarled. "Not that I'd expect you to be truthful about anything at this point." She immediately looked up at the hole she'd come through, noticing the sounds of fighting going on above her. "The orange one got away but he's weakened." Vegeta said dismissively. "Trunks should have no problem finishing him off. Now take me to where you last saw Babidi." She hesitated for a brief moment before nodding and starting to pick herself up, immediately gasping as Vegeta's hand came around her throat and lifted her up off the ground.

"Your natural origin is of no interest to me any longer," He stated coldly. "Nor is this power that Babidi has imbued you with...but you will NOT use this power you do not know how to control on my son, do you understand me?" He demanded, infuriated. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" She tried to swallow, flinching.

"N-no." He studied her carefully for deceit, finding nothing but panic, he rolled his eyes and released her, nudging her to her feet. She stood up without another word, hand cradling her throat as she quietly lead him away. She took him close and stopped at a large hole in the wall that led to the throne room. "Looks like someone beat you here." Vegeta ignored her, flying straight in where Kuji blocked their path to the fight happening. Josie's back straightened and the anger came back swiftly.

"Go ahead," She said to Vegeta, eyes trained on Kuji. Vegeta glanced between the two, hesitating for brief moments before his annoyance won out. She'd been imbued with powers beyond her pathetically wildest dreams now, if she lost a fight to this Namek then she deserved to die and he certainly had more important things to deal with.

He jumped into the fray leaving her behind. Goku was screaming, body pinned beneath the enormous starfish like hand of a gigantic mass of a purple creature that looked like a monster octopus with short tentacles; its twenty feet wide body sloshing with any step it took. She recoiled, grimacing at its appearance, making Kuji turn to look.

"That's the monster the Master recovered from the Raisin Planet of sorcerers." Josie's arms crossed as she forced herself to keep her attention on the others instead of Kuji, afraid that she'd give herself up too quickly if she tried to hurt him now. Vegeta flew straight through the jello like skin of the monster coming out of the other side, frustrated.

"His flesh only hardens when he wants it too, but when it does, its mass and strength surpasses anything I've ever heard of" Kuji explained, smiling in amusement as Goku continued to scream. "I'm surprised your friends insides haven't burst out."

"Where's the Master?" Josie questioned with irritation, "I thought he was here." When she looked around she only saw the three fighters in the large throne room, noting the glass window from before was completely gone. Babidi had been prepared to fight.

"Watching downstairs." He assured. "Arapaima?" He asked.

"Dying upstairs." She assured in turn, smiling as his eyes bugged out as he whirled towards her, grabbing her tightly by the arms.

"What did you say!"

She simply stared at him and his hands began to burn intolerably. He reeled back, growling. "Don't you ever dare touch me again." She warned, body shaking as he ran out in search of Arapaima. She turned back to the others, taking a moment to lean against a pillar and tried in vain to make her body stop convulsing. That lava in her veins was burning again, the way it had been in her cell but stronger now.

She grimaced, taking a deep breath and slowly trying to exhale it out, the sound of her furiously beating heart thumping loudly in her ears along with the sounds of battle. Could she be dying? All of this felt so surreal now. Surely **this** would be the moment she would wake up and find herself warm in bed at home with her family who would laugh at her for staying in bed so late, instead of this nightmare filled with agonizing pain, fear and blood. She'd dreamt of weird things before and this was certainly right up there in terms of strange, alongside whale 747 planes who could do dolphin tricks in the water and changed colors as they dived; but surely the dream had gone on long enough and she'd be waking up soon. There was too much noise, and pain for her not wake up soon.

Her eyes opened painfully slow and found a blurry Vegeta in front of her, a deep frown on his face. Her heart picked up again and she attempted to swallow nonexistent moisture into her throat, looking past him at the battle where Goku was powering up with Piccolo, Gohan, 18 and Uub throwing blasts at the Raisin Monster in attempts to distract him from his target.

"W..hat."

"You're not okay." Vegeta pointed out, confused.

"I'm fine." She assured, dismissively, using the wall to pick herself up. "Come-on, I have to show you where Babidi is, getting him may be the only way to kill t-that." She moved as quickly as she could, finding a cornered set of stairs and beginning to descend. Vegeta lost his patience and jogged down ahead without her. "Wait!" She called quickly. "Vegeta." He rolled his eyes and turned back. "I'm sure he didn't leave it up here. Remember the sphere with him I told you about, he said it was **his** ball and chain." She repeated strongly. "I k-know you don't believe in me but he was keeping it pretty tight beside him, try to find it; I'm sure that's the way." He nodded and went on ahead, leaving her to try to catch her breath with her forehead against the wall beside her. "I'll be right b-behind you." She mumbled, tiredly, hoping her irregularly beating heart wouldn't give out on her now.

...

Upstairs Arapaima was loosing a hopeless battle with Trunks who floated above him, as he legitimately considered letting him go, seeing as he posed no threat in his state.

Arapaima looked around frantically, sweat pouring down his face, blood running down his cheek, an eye swollen shut. He spotted Kuji entering the room and shot up, running at him full speed - his body merging with the Namekians upon impact. Trunks recoiled back in shock at the strange merge.

"What the.." Kuji slowly began to recover, breathing heavily for a few moments before looking up at Trunks, smirking.

"All better." Trunks growled, fists clenching as he began to power up again.

"I told you to go away, I would have given you a chance!" He shouted in frustration.

"That was a mistake." Arapaima/Kuji [Hereafter known as: Araku]. "Because I'll have no qualm about killing you." With that final threat said, Araku began to power up, screaming, pushing Trunks energy back, forcing him to power up to Super Saiyan to keep from getting blown away.

"He's a lot stronger." Trunks noted through gritted teeth, shielding his eyes from the power up - for a brief moment, shock took over, as he saw his best friend fly up beside him and give him a quick grin before shielding his own eyes from the bright light. When the screaming finally stopped, they began to take their hands away, staring at the strange disproportionately mutated creature in front of them; having Kuji's head and mostly Arapaima's body with an additional arm, the body armor almost completely destroyed from the waist up.

"Uegh." Goten made a face beside him, saying Trunks very own sentiment aloud. "..Doesn't that just make you feel _that_ much better about Gotenks?" Goten asked his best friend jokingly.

"No kidding." Trunks mumbled.

"Gotenks?" Araku's scratchy voice asked, glazed eyes narrowed, as he panted to catch his breath.

"Yeah." Trunks said, scowl on his face unwavering. "Let us introduce you to him." Goten grinned with a nod,

"Yeah, he transforms a lot like you do." He explained. "Except he is **way** better looking." He added with amusement, jumping a few feet from his best friend as the ground beneath them began to shake.

...

"Ah.." Babidi said joyfully as he sat in a chair with twenty soldiers behind him wearing Golden armor, many of them Namekians. "Vegeta, how pleasant to see you...and - " Babidi grinned as he looked past Vegeta. "I should have known, my new pet brings my old pet." He said through laughter. "It's poetic, isn't it?" Vegeta turned around and saw Josie a few feet behind him at the bottom of the stairs, looking out of breath. "Come, pet." He encouraged, gesturing her closer. She moved forward, making a large circle around Vegeta for Babid's sake. Babidi studied her for a minute before laughing aloud again.

"Oh this is just too much." He said merrily. "You really are weak, aren't you?" He asked rhetorically. "I guess I unlocked too many doors and I put more power into you than what you could handle. The latter part was an experiment," He grinned. "With splendidly interesting AND amusing results, might I add. I wish the doctor were beside me to see this. How are you feeling, pet? a little too warm yet?" Josie glared hard at the ground, clenching her jaw as she attempted not to respond back and give herself away. "Let's hope you last at least the rest of the day." Babidi continued to chuckle to himself as he studied Vegeta's tense body with glee.

"And Vegeta, it's been so long." He cooed, grinning. "I don't suppose you've come to me to become the Majin Vegeta you once were." Vegeta only snarled. "Yes, I didn't imagine you did." He said with a shrug. "I have to say, I'm surprised you're not upstairs enjoying the delightfully unmove-able creature I left for you all - no matter," He said with a light shrug. "I kept some warriors with me in hopes that you may come." At that, the twenty beings behind Babidi moved forward and attacked him, just as Josie was settling beside Babidi.

"No, Babidi," Vegeta assured with ease. "I'm here for something else," Vegeta explained, taking slow deliberate steps towards the quickly approaching fighters, swatting two out of the way and straight into a wall. "Something," He continued, "You probably need," He grunted with the effort to grab another one by the face and slam the back of his head hard onto the concrete ground, making Josie look away. Vegeta shook the blood off his hand, ducking the punch of another, powering up quickly to send a bone crushing elbow straight onto the enemy's spine, killing him instantly as well. "To keep," He continued, grinning maliciously at Babidi who looked on in absolute rage. "Your worthless carcass alive." Babidi's eyes widened in understanding as he quickly reached for the orb beside him, only to find the spot empty. He screamed, looking all around for it, eyes quickly landing on Josie who stood a few feet beside him holding her hands behind her back, sweat dripping down her brow but a wide smile on her face, as she attempted to look as innocent as possible.

"YOU WORTHLESS BRAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING ONTO THAT!" He screeched, spittle flying out of his mouth as he stood now on his chair, looking all about ready to breathe fire.

"Shut.. up." She mumbled quietly with grimace, a grin slowly forming as a small crunching noise began to sound from behind her, making Babidi's eyes widen and a gasp come out of his mouth. "So what happens exactly if I destroy this?" She asked, smiling. "Do you die right away? or will it take a few minutes? do all your creatures go with you or would they just become weaker? I'm a little smarter than ya thought, huh?" He angrily waved his hand in front of his face once, and growled.

"You dare to try to over-power **me**?" He asked dangerously. "I knew I should have killed you as soon as your near dead body was laid before me, you ungrateful worthless brat." She felt him start to move her arms forward and she fought hard to bring them back to her stomach, arms quaking with the effort to stop herself, head beginning to pound furiously.

"N-no." She gritted her teeth against the pain, every muscle in her body taut, the air around her body feeling like tangible needle pricks running continually over her skin. "No one calls me a...-AH" She cried out as her body began to hover in the air, and the ground began to shake beneath her, her jaw clenched. "Let go, you o-oo...mpa loom..pa reject." She screamed, falling down to her knees harshly, making her cry out in pain as something cracked. "aaah.." She gulped with a closed mouth whimper, eyes closed tightly as her body absorbed the pain. She shakily drew a breath. "S-stay still, Babidi, for a dam-" She coughed violently. "VEGETA!"

Vegeta turned towards the voice as he removed his fist from another's chest. His power was making her hair wave erratically behind her; her right eye red, stains of blood on her tank top from her bleeding nose as she looked at him with that damn look she'd given him from the very day that he'd met her obnoxious and incessant personality, **hopeful**; as if he alone could make everything okay, as if he would save her - when he wanted to do nothing more than dump her on an empty planet and forget that she had ever existed. Why the hell couldn't she get through her head that he did not like her?

He growled as he ripped his arm away from another soldier grabbing at him, grunting with the weight of four of them throwing themselves on him again, holding him tight. Babidi was livid, smoke was literally coming out of his ears and his entire body swelled with the attempt to free himself from whatever was happening; whilst the girl's body protectively clutched the orb she'd been telling him about earlier;

the ball she was apparently willing to kill herself over.

Her arm wavered as she shakily brought the orb to the ground in front of her and gave it a shaky push towards him; immediately forcing herself to stand with a cry of pure agony, clutching the pretend ball to her stomach. "ENOUGH!" Babidi shouted, little hairs standing, body shaking with hatred, as he forced himself to chuckle at the little edge she had gotten over him for a nano second. "You're going to pay." He said with finality, hearing the increased violence to his right but ignoring it as he put his complete attention on the insolent girl in front of him who had dared to cross him when HE was in control, when **HE** was Her Master. "You are NOTHING." He shouted, enraged. He turned his hand quickly in the air and she turned in time with it, shuddering, making him genuinely grin now. She was terrified and increasingly weaker. He lifted his hand, bringing her up in the air and made his own arms open up, feeling no resistance left as her own arms unwillingly copied the movement. He opened his own hands and hers automatically opened too and... he saw nothing there.

No Orb.

An animalistic sound erupted from his throat as he turned to look at Vegeta who discarded the last dead soldier easily to the side, covered in blood himself, boot sitting comfortable right above the cracking orb, his attention on Babidi now with a relaxed smirk on his face.

"Your move." He challenged.

...

_From Josie's point of view_:

Josie blinked as she hovered in the air, attempting to swallow moisture into her painfully dry mouth and throat. She realized she couldn't hear them anymore. She could make out a blurring Babidi and Vegeta talking but it made her head hurt so sharply to look at them, that she decided to rest her eyes a minute instead. She grimaced still, realizing that it wasn't that she couldn't hear, so much as it was that the high pitched noise in her ears overpowered their voices; Why was that so loud? and where was it coming from?

She swallowed again with increasing difficulty, feeling powerfully nauseous. Her sleepy gaze looked down at the ground below and wondered vaguely how angry Babidi would be if she threw up on him.

She smiled faintly at that.

Josie looked down and studied her swelling limbs with a heavy blink of her eyes and marveled. Babidi was killing her. Unable to focus on any thought for more than a moment, she moved her head with some difficulty to her left to look at Vegeta, whose sole attention was on Babidi; and she found herself suddenly wishing that he would look at her, for just a minute, so that he could see that she was flying. She had always wanted to fly on her own without the boys having to carry her around, and now, no one was paying attention to her while she was flying for her very first time.

She grimaced and looked up at the ceiling for a moment with a frown, as her arms continued to swell. Where were the boys? she wondered with some hurt.

And Valerie? And her mom and dad?

She wished desperately that they were all here. Her frown deepened when she brought her head back down and caught sight of somebody rushing Vegeta from behind. She wanted to yell and warn him but she was barely able to open her dry mouth before it was already too late; they had already pushed him forward and faintly she could make out Babidi screaming. Josie turned to look at the creature that had started them all down this path and found him glaring at her, furiously; He screamed something unintelligible as his arms waved in the air and the air around her began to shift and crack open her skin.

A familiar gleam of power shone through his eyes and before she could do anything more than scream, she felt herself violently pushed away from the ground; faster than she had ever moved before; up, into, and through the air, as she looked down at the retreating planet in confusion. She couldn't feel anything anymore. And that sound...

The ear-piercing sound of silence only continued to surge as her line of sight slipped into colors that were quickly fading. All the colors in the world were all of three left, before they slowly went out; like the last few seconds of an old television screen where the noise fades, and there is one shortening line of grey color in sight in the center of the screen that lingers for just a wisp of a moment, before it ceases to exist.

Josie felt the terrifying self awareness of that deafening silence and suffocating darkness for only seconds, before she too, passed away.

.

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The dull black noise began to come back, a little bit at a time, as the white began to bring color back into her line of sight. She inhaled a lung full of air as she felt her body become whole again underneath a white linen sheet. Josie slowly to open her eyes, grimacing at the brightness of daylight. She sat up on a simple table top, mouth dropping open once her eyes landed on the spectacular, yet familiar, fluffy yellow clouds of other world; Her eyes only stopping their exploration, when she noticed an amused Babba sitting atop her crystal ball with her arms crossed.

"Well?" The old woman asked with a secretive smile, "Are you ready?"

**End chapter**


	33. Chapter 33: The Day before the Day

**Disclaimer**: Do not own Jack! Ugh.. lets not mention fast food.. my stomach feels terrible right now.

**Note:** Chapter is the title to a song I was listening to for motivation, by Dido. It doesn't mean the chapter takes place the day before the fight, thought I should clear that up! Also, I edited a few things from last chapter to make it a little more smooth, if you all feel like re-reading that to remember exactly where we left off, please feel free to do so but for everyone else, here is a small recap of the basics of

Last time:

* * *

_"__**JOSIE!**__" Josie turned just in time as she was scooped up into the arms of Trunks and spun quickly two times before another set of arms encircled her back._

_Trunks and Goten._

_She recognized them immediately and let herself sag in their embrace, blissfully happy, and finally feeling safe. Her friends were here. They had come to rescue her. She wrapped one arm around Trunks and fished for Goten's hand - giving them both a desperately grateful squeeze._

_"You're here." She choked out happily, in awe. In response their arms tightened._

* * *

_A guttural scream of frustration erupted from her, as she purposely let the dark ball of energy dissipate back into her. Enraged by his lack of self defense but unable to actually hurt him, Josie used both hands to forcefully push him back onto another set of tables. "I'm a screw up, you idiot!" He slowly picked himself up, looking at her with that infuriating pity. "The entire planet knows I'm the biggest imbecile in the world for getting myself into this mess, except apparently you." She accused as she quickly moved towards him. "I deserve this." She ground her teeth, eyes shutting tightly as tears pooled at the corners. "I deserve everything that happened... I-I should have never-" His hands carefully grabbed her arms and Josie flinched in expectation of pain - but before she could register any impact - her feet were off the ground and his bloody arms were around her lower back, cradling her body softly into his. And his lips were on hers._

_Trunks was kissing her._

* * *

_You're not okay." Vegeta pointed out, confused._

_"I'm fine." She assured, dismissively, using the wall to pick herself up. "Come-on, I have to show you where Babidi is, getting him may be the only way to kill t-that." She moved as quickly as she could, finding a cornered set of stairs and beginning to descend. Vegeta lost his patience and jogged down ahead without her. "Wait!" She called quickly. "Vegeta." He rolled his eyes and turned back. "I'm sure he didn't leave it up here. Remember the sphere with him I told you about, he said it was __**his**__ ball and chain." She repeated strongly. "I k-know you don't believe in me but he was keeping it pretty tight beside him, try to find it; I'm sure that's the way." He nodded and went on ahead, leaving her to try to catch her breath with her forehead against the wall beside her. "I'll be right b-behind you." She mumbled, tiredly, hoping her irregularly beating heart wouldn't give out on her now._

* * *

_A familiar gleam of power shone through his eyes and before she could do anything more than scream, she felt herself violently pushed away from the ground; faster than she had ever moved before: up, into, and through the air, as she looked down at the retreating planet in confusion. She couldn't feel anything all the colors in the world were all of three left, before they slowly went out; like the last few seconds of an old television screen where the noise fades, and there is one shortening line of grey color in sight in the center of the screen that lingers for just a wisp of a moment, before it ceases to exist._

_Josie felt the terrifying self awareness of that deafening silence and suffocating darkness for only seconds, before she too, passed away._

* * *

_The dull black noise began to come back, a little bit at a time, as the white began to bring color back into her line of sight. She inhaled a lung full of air as she felt her body become whole again underneath a white linen sheet. Josie slowly to open her eyes, grimacing at the brightness of daylight. She sat up on a simple table top, mouth dropping open once her eyes landed on the spectacular, yet familiar, fluffy yellow clouds of other world; Her eyes only stopping their exploration, when she noticed an amused Babba sitting atop her crystal ball with her arms crossed._

_"Well?" The old woman asked with a secretive smile, "Are you ready?"_

* * *

**Dude Where's my World**

Revised

**Chapter 33**: The Day before the Day

Stacks of black cafeteria bench tables were upturned, splintered in half, while remnants of the others laid in heaps all throughout the largely devastated cafeteria.

Trunks sat on the ground breathing heavily as he scanned the room through one swollen eye for his best friend amongst the rubble; finding that difficult to do with the fluorescent ceiling light swaying over the area steadily from side to side. He groaned as he tried to sit up straighter against the uncomfortable surface of a fallen beam.

"Goten?" He inquired into the echoey room. He heard shifting of rubble to his right and stared in the general direction, smiling when only his best friend's head popped straight out of a pile of demolished tables. Goten groaned miserably as he yanked his arms upward and freed them from their entrapment and muttered to himself as he dropped them back down onto heaps of wreckage, letting his chin rest on the pile in front of his, as he caught sight of Trunks through his peripheral vision. Goten raised up a thumbs up and grinned at Trunks tiredly, making the older teen laugh.

"Oof." Trunks grimaced in pain as he warily looked down at his torso, confident at he had a few broken ribs. He chuckled anyway. "That was almost fun." Trunks remarked. "But I think we've let ourselves go, buddy. We are out of shape." He remarked.

Planting his hands on the rubble up to his shoulders, Goten huffed in response to Trunks comment, making his best friend grin with amusement. "Speak for yourself, Trunks" Goten insisted with a grin, "I am totally-" Groaning, Goten let himself drop forward again.

Trunks laughed, "Come-on, Goten." Trunks insisted, flinching again as he pushed himself up on to his feet and walked towards the younger half saiyan and easily offered a hand, yanking him out. Goten stumbled back to his feet and with a small limp he made his way towards the opposite side of the cafeteria.

"Where you going?" Trunks asked, confused.

"Do you think they have some food here?" He asked with hope, as he studied a large hole in a wall and disappointed with what he saw, he pulled back out and continued to walk along the wall. "We are in cafeteria, aren't we?"

"How can you be hungry at a time like this?" Trunks asked following him with his eyes, surprised.

"That Pima guy knocked me out before! where do you think I went for all those minutes!" He asked, outraged, for just a moment, before his eyes lit up when he saw a large counter that appeared to lead to the kitchen. "Yes!" He rubbed his hands and limped faster, easily going over the counter and disappearing from view.

Trunks chuckled as he flipped some of the rubble, looking for his watch he'd somehow lost or possibly destroyed during the battle as Goten continued to banter on about the cheap shot Arapaima had taken at him while they were under this level.

"_You think they have cranberry juice anywhere around here?_"

"I don't know." Trunks answered back with an easy grin, as he took off his now worthless coat. When he discarded it to the side it landed on something that fell off some rubble and clanked when it hit the ground. Curious, Trunks climbed rubble in that direction and laid on an uncomfortable stack of debris to reach down through for whatever it was that fell down. He finally felt his fingertips touch something and extended his shoulder just a little further into the opening and pulled it out. It looked like a CC Capsule Case that had gone through hell and back. He grimaced, slowly adjusting himself back into a sitting position on the uncomfortable and uneven surface, as he studied it curiously, before movement to his right caught his attention.

Immediately Trunks was on his feet, "GOTEN!" Trunks warned instantly. It only took seconds for recognition to dawn on him, and he slowly dropped his fighting stance; He offered a smile to his father, relieved and grateful to see him okay. "Hey." He greeted with a shaken laugh, "Kind of startled me...Dad?" He asked, his smile becoming tentative when he saw the expression on his father's face.

...

_***flashback***_

_Vegeta had been careless, one of Babidi's had ran at him and embedded a pathetic knife through his shoulder._

_But Vegeta had still been able to hear it. _

_The crunch of the orb nor the sound of Babidi's furious screams of anger could cover Josie's screams of agony as Babidi took out his rage on her. The light from the shattered orb that had brightly encompassed the whole room had covered the visual but the sounds had been enough to figure out what happened. When the light went away the scene had been almost entirely different. Before him had now stood an imposing man of 6'6 with black hair and light blue eyes with a light yellow complexion; wearing a blue tarp with a gold sash around his waist with high black boots and a black small medallion hanging on his forehead._

_His stern eyes were ignoring everything in the room but Babidi, his fists tightly clenching at his side. Vegeta looked past him towards Babidi whose body was drastically frail now and shrunken, as he sat back on his throne; appearing to be on the brink of loosing his life. Babidi stared back resentfully at the man before him, unable to properly lift his head anymore. _

"_Y-you...were not supposed to be freed. Your life is mine." The man only stared at him, taking a step forward to look down at the disappearing man whose clothes were beginning to fit bigger and bigger by the moment. Babidi raised his arms to the sky, weakly. "Paparrapapa!" He shouted, his arms glowing for a minute, letting them drop painfully to his side, cackling happily. "You'll pay." Babidi warned happily, eyes shifting to Vegeta. _

"_Hn.. you seem to be the only one paying now, rodent." Vegeta observed with a sneer. Babidi laughed in his last moments alive, struggling to manage it through each weak and labored breath but he didn't seem to mind the effort, as he grinned. _

"_Look a-around." He gloated. "What do you see? or rather __**who**__ do you not see? or maybe you can see her," He joked morbidly. "There, t-there and there." He rasped, laughing maniacally. "You didn't win." He assured, sneering with hatred. "And you never will." _

_*__**End Flashback***_

Vegeta had definitely not expected a man to come out of the orb, he glanced at the quiet man standing off to the side, surveying the damage with an unreadable expression on his face. They were all above ground now, out in the Namekian sun. Vegeta had gone to tell Trunks first and shortly after found the others already taking unconscious bodies above ground.

His son.

Vegeta's body tensed, turning away to stare at a body of water with a scowl. That deep seated hurt that had trampled inside the recesses of his sons blue eyes, that same gut clenching hurt he'd have to see in his wife's eyes, and worse yet, in his daughters eyes when his youngest found out about this. His mouth turned down in a snarl, feeling irritation drum through his system; this stupid girl who he had only brought home for quick medical treatment and questioning had completely changed his family's life and he couldn't even stand to be in the same room with her.

"Vegeta?" He barely turned his head to acknowledge Goku who flew beside him. "We're taking some of the survivors to the Elder Moori and we need to get in contact with Bulma to get the scouter back since we couldn't locate any of the balls on the ship." Vegeta nodded.

"Go to Moori." He said. "I'm going to find my son and we'll meet you at the ship." He said receiving a nod. Vegeta took one more look at the strange man that Goku comfortably walked up too and chatted at with ease; he shook his head, whatever that man was, bringing him back had rendered Babidi's minions useless and had killed the sorcerer in minutes so for the moment, Vegeta could tolerate him around. He flew back to the space ship knowing that his son was there.

When he had told Trunks the news he had remained on the ship with Goten nearby for the next half hour while the others cleaned the wreckage and searched for survivors. As they mostly worked outside, Trunks had wordlessly left with Goten following without anyone stopping them. He knew he'd be heading to the spaceship to inform Bulma and it was just as well, he had never been good at that sort of thing and he needed time to think about what he'd say if they asked him questions about the girls death.

Even now he still had no idea how much he'd tell them but he knew that, regardless of that fact that, he needed to get back to his family. When he landed by the familiar ship, he calmly walked the ships halls, fists closed as he made his way to the cockpit where the still injured Goten was standing guard outside, looking pretty upset himself. Vegeta put a hand on the boy's shoulder, grateful that he'd kept a strong chin for his own son; Goten's eyes briefly came to his and quickly nodded, looking back ahead as he wiped at his right eye in annoyance. Vegeta patted his shoulder before going into the cockpit where Trunks was holding his mother. Her sparkling blue eyes opened as soon as her husband entered the room and he felt his heart squeeze just a little at the sight of her eyes looking so red. He knew her well enough to know that she'd been crying well before Trunks had arrived to tell her the news; maybe she had already known.

An hour later Trunks laid on his own bed, his shoulders and head propped up some with a few pillows as his hands listlessly toyed with the scuffed and bent metal capsule case he'd found in the Dining Center; what he now knew to be Josie's emergency capsule case.

"You don't have to stay." Trunks said in a quiet voice to Goten who sat on his own bed, facing Trunks and staring directly at him unrepentantly, with worry.

"Not yet." Goten said firmly. He'd stayed resolutely at his best friends side since he'd come back out of the kitchen and had seen Vegeta with a hand on Trunks shoulder, talking quietly in the dark and empty dining hall.

Goten closed his fists above his knees, hating this day with a reverent passion. "...Trunks, we'll wish her back." He finally couldn't help but say. He was trying as hard as he could to just let his best friend go through what he was going through but he had to give him hope. His father had warned him against it, but he had to try. Trunks turned his head to look at him for a moment, his fingers stopping their inattentive toying for a few seconds before he became preoccupied in it again.

Dully, he asked. "What if we can't."

"..." Goten looked down at the ground, knowing that that was the question on everyone's mind. They had all lost their disbelief over the girls origin somewhere along the way, but with normal rules not applying to them, it left so many questions about what could happen to them. Especially in case of heard a brief knock at the door before Gohan stood at the doorway, looking hesitant.

"We've rescued just about everyone we could rescue - Dad says he's almost ready to go, Goten." Goten nodded, "But you have to get fixed up first, so head to Moori's when you can." Gohan couldn't help but shoot a sympathetic look at Trunks before stepping back out. Trunks sighed, putting the capsule down on his chest and turning his head to look at Goten.

"You're going to earth?" Goten nodded.

"I talked about it with Dad - though we have full intention of bringing her back - Dad thinks it's only a very small matter of time before Dende and the others figure out a way to find out what's happened here and he- **We** think that Valerie should hear it from one of us." Trunks nodded, going back to staring at the ceiling.

"I can't do it." He said simply. "I should do it - I know I should but.." He shook his head, turning away, remembering the small conversation they'd had while he'd temporarily gone back to earth.

"_You'll bring her back, right?" Valerie asked, eyes coming back to meet his questioningly, hopeful. _

"_Of course he will." Bra jumped right in, hand on his knee and her shoulder. "We'll all be back here hanging out in no time." Valerie continued to stare into his eyes, searching._

"Trunks." Goten said firmly, thankful when his friend turned to look back at him. "Don't worry. I'll do it." He assured. "Your mom's working on the Dragon Ball Scouter again, I'm sure you'll want to be here and have first shot at getting the balls back together." Trunks sat up, turning his legs towards Goten, giving him a nod.

"I appreciate it, Goten." He said with a sigh. "I'll walk you out." Trunks walked outside of the ship with him towards Moori's, stopping a few feet before the village giving Goten a hard hug.

"Thank you." He said sincerely, patting his friend's back and seeing him off with a small smile. When he was finally alone he slowly flew upward, keeping an eye out for any of his friends, thankful when he only saw less than a handful of Nameks. Satisfied that he wouldn't be stopped, he flew off quickly through the sky.

His father had refused to tell him how she'd died and instead had left him to wonder all the terrible ways it could have happened, not having realized that that could be a worse fate. He just needed this break from the idleness of waiting. He would rather be up to his neck fighting another enemy than to stay with the others at that moment.

As he started flying in the direction of the ship, he hesitated in the air. What would he find there anyway? He'd already scoured a lot of the ship while Goten was with him and had not found anything other than the Capsule Case. His father had finished destroying the room that Babidi had been in, possibly to prohibit him from seeing something there; But regardless of what the reason was, whatever was in there was gone now. He changed direction and instead headed to the body of water that Josie and him had spent time at soon after they had arrived on the planet.

He landed gently on dry land beside the body of water, staring intently at the calm surface. He doubted Josie had known she would find something here when she came back on her own and had been taken; maybe she had simply come back to distract herself temporarily?

Hell, he thought with a light kick at the ground, maybe she _had_ been looking for something, who knew at this point? He hadn't gotten to ask her a single question in those few moments that he'd been with her. He'd only hugged her, pointed out she was bleeding, received a few well placed hits from her and the next thing he knew he had grabbed the poor defenseless - and likely - traumatized girl and had kissed the daylights out of her.

He shook his head with a groan, sitting down roughly at the water's edge, unable to believe how stupid he had been. What must she have felt when they took her? where had they taken her? Right here in this very spot he was sitting at? had she been about to leave? and _why the hell _had he kissed her? He frowned at the water.

Impulsively standing up, Trunks took off his new jacket in one flurried movement- before jumping in to the welcoming cold slap of the lake.

...

Goten sat on a table with Moori's hand on his shoulder. Smiling softly, Moori declared, "You're healed now, young man." Goten remained seated, hands on the table beside him, looking like he was miles away.

Elder Moori looked at Goku who stood a few feet behind his son. Goku gave him a grateful nod and quietly came around the table to stand where Elder Moori had stood; Gently placing his own hand on his son's shoulder. "Goten?" He asked gently.

His son slowly raised his head and Goku could see the pooled tears there. "Oh Son." He mumbled sympathetically, opening his arms as his son came into his embrace for a tight hug. "It's been a tough week, Goten, but it's over now." He assured, squeezing his youngest. "You did a fantastic job, son, nobody could have asked for any better." Goten took a few more moments before finally pulling back and taking a deep breath.

"Thanks, Dad." Goku merely smiled affectionately, rubbing his sons head.

"Just glad you don't have a hole in your head anymore." Goten grinned. He'd taken a pretty nasty fall from Arapaima that had knocked him out of a few minutes during the fight.

"Dad, lets go." He requested. "Are the others ready?" Goku nodded.

"Are you?" He challenged.

"Yeah." Goten waved off the concern. "I'm sure 18 and Uub want to get back to their families and... no matter how much time I wait, Valerie will still have to know. She should know." He repeated adamantly. "I'd want to if it were Trunks." Goku nodded.

...

Trunks appeared in the cave Arapaima had stopped him from entering before, warning him that he wouldn't like what he saw in there. Trunks picked himself out of the water, immediately aware - that for the first time -

that disgusting creature was right.

He remembered some of this place, when Goten and he had fused, he got small flashes and he'd been thankful for the chance to fight, who he eventually realized, was partly Kuji.

Looking at this place now though, he wished so desperately that he had a chance at Kuji alone. This place was a mess. The image of the torn cage to his left, of the shackles on the ground, of the blood on the walls did not, and **could not**, add up to the same girl he'd been teasing on their ship 24 hours ago. Less than three days ago he'd been catering to her drug induced whims, had been trying to train her to punch without hurting her wrist, had helped comfort her while her burn was cleaned - he groaned at that - if she could barely tolerate that, how they hell had she been able to survive what the walls of this cave were screaming had happened here? He walked directly to the torn cell and sat down on the ground, grateful not to find any blood in there, turning his head lazily to the side when he felt the insistent drip of small water droplets on the back of his hand resting beside him. He raised his hand up and let the droplets fall onto his open palm.

What if he had gotten to her in time? The thought wouldn't let him go, she had counted on him and he had failed.

***Flashback***

Trunks rubbed the back of his sore neck, yawning as he entered his room, late the night before they headed for Namek, when he heard a noise.

"Psst." He stopped at his door and turned around, confused, looking down both sides of the dark corridor and not seeing anyone or hearing anything anymore. He was about to turn back into his room when he heard the quiet but persistent noise again.

"Psssst." He finally saw Josie's door across the hall open a little wider but it was too dark to see anything else. He shook his head, smiling, sure that it was Josie.

"Yes?-"

"Shh!" He heard her voice scold, "C'mere!" Grinning, he rolled his eyes and went to her room, finally able to make out her shape now. Josie straightened as she walked back into her room now, upright. Trunks immediately noticed her bed was still made and her large windows were completely open, letting in the moonlight and a light breeze. Josie climbed onto the pillow at the head of her bed and stared out her window, leaning her shoulder and her on her bed rail.

Trunks watched, confused. Two things struck him at once: her hair was down, she rarely ever had it like that, and two, she was quiet. When on earth was she EVER quiet? Josie glanced at him and smiled.

"Sorry." She mumbled, turning back to the window. "I saw when you came out of training with your dad," She explained, pointing at the Gravity Room through the window. "I know its late and you're tired and we have a long day tomorrow, but I cant seem to sleep." His face softened at that and he nodded, grabbing her desk chair and flipping it around to straddle it, placing the chair as close to the bed as he could.

"Scared?" He asked gently, arms and chin resting on the back of his chair. She wrinkled her nose at the word and his lip raised on the right side in amusement. "Stubborn mule." He saw her eyes narrow and couldn't help but grin into his arm. She was so easy sometimes.

He preferred her this way though, he thought with a soft smile; all full of fire and righteous indignation rather than looking worried or hurt. He took a deep breath and scooted closer, with a soft smile.

"How can I help?"

***End Flashback***

_How can I help_, he mocked disparagingly as further memories haunted him.

_"She said that.. That she wanted to talk to someone who would believe her. We talked a little bit about her theories - she was talking about the bad guy maybe being under water?" Valerie offered through the com system._

_"Did she say she was going there?" Trunks asked._

_"She said she wasn't... but she had this look, I know that look, Trunks." Trunks nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about._

_"I'll find her." He promised simply, smiling reassuringly before running out _

He shook his head. He had found her alright; for brief seconds unconscious over some demented beings shoulder and briefly later on soaking wet and scared to death, harshly berating herself right before she left the room and...apparently died.

He got up and moved further into the cave, swallowing down the bile that seemed to want to dance its way up his esophagus as he got a closer look at the scene.

...

The sun was setting on earth, Puchi was already tucked away for bed and the others all sat at the steps of the entrance, none pretending that they'd get even a minute of sleep while their loved ones were off fighting Babidi and whatever new monsters he'd brought along.

After hours of endless waiting, just like that, in a flash Goku appeared ten few feet in front of them with Goten, Android 18, and Uub alongside him.

There was a flurry of noises as Krillin and the others immediately got up to greet them, overjoyed that they were back and safe from harm. Bra chose to remain by Valerie's side as they stood up; Bra's little face drawn into a frown as she noticed the absence of her older brother who'd promised to be back with any news.

Goten made a beeline around the happy reunion and headed straight for the two girls, eyes immediately landing on Valerie who stared back in surprise. He looked so unnaturally intense and she couldn't help but feel an urgent sense of trepidation wash over her as he finally stood before the two girls. He wrapped an arm around Bra who mumbled a greeting, asking where Trunks was.

"He's on Namek." He assured quietly. "Most stayed behind to help find the Dragon Balls." Valerie nodded slowly, eyes still on his, feeling like he still had a canyon to drop on their heads.

"So..." She swallowed nervously, "Everything's okay..." She tested out carefully, seeing the flicker of hurt in his eyes that immediately told her they were not. Her jaw hardened and her lips pursed in anger. "No." She rejected, angrily turning to go up the stairs - for once - not caring that everyone was probably staring at her.

"_Make fun all you want._"Josie voice echoed in Valerie's mind as she hurriedly walked away from the others. _"But its Dragon Ball Z Val... when don't the good guys win?" _The memory of Josie voice insisted_. " We'll win and our lives will change here, Val. I can feel it!" _Josie's voice shouted happily.

"**Val." **Goten attempted, reaching for her arm, feeling it quickly yanked away.

"NO." She shouted, annoyed that Bra was softly crying a few feet behind Goten. There was no need to cry if nothing was wrong. "Trunks _just _came and told us she was alive. People don't just die like that, Goten-" She clamped her mouth shut, aware of how stupid the words she was saying sounded but seeming unable to explain to him what she meant.

"We'll bring her back.." Goten couldn't help but promise, desperate to comfort her. "I'm sorry Val, we'll bring-" She waved her arm.

"Are you kidding me? What the hell happened!" She demanded, turning to look at him angrily, as her heart worked on beating its way right out of her chest or possibly cracking into pieces before then.

".." He looked at her helplessly for a moment, before becoming distracted by the softly crying young girl by his side. He huddled the youngest Briefs gently to his side, whispering comforting words to the little girl who was practically his baby sister, hating to see either of them hurt like this. He glanced up momentarily after a minute but Valerie wasn't there anymore.

He sighed, reaching for Bra's face and bringing it up for him to look at. He smiled down at her big, beautiful, blue tear filled eyes. "Come-on, Kiddo." He said, "Let's get you inside, I'll take care of Val in a bit." Bra shook her head.

"No." She argued, sniffling. "Go take care of her now. I'll be okay." She said, looking up at him with the same determination he constantly saw in her mother, father and her brother. "Go." She insisted. "I'll go with Marron's mom." He nodded, giving her a long kiss on the forehead.

"I'm sorry." He whispered there, heart breaking just a little more when her face crumpled. She nodded and quickly moved away before he reached for her again.

"Go." She cried. He watched her go for a few seconds, torn about who he should follow. He finally went in the opposite direction of Bra, off down the side of the building and around back; where he found Valerie standing with her forehead planted against the the wall of the building, hands fisted at her side and mumbling to herself quietly.

"..Val?" He asked tentatively, hands immediately going into his pockets. She slowly turned her head to him, eyes shutting tightly and turning back to the wall as she continued to mumble. He got close enough to reach her but choose not too, instead he carefully leaned his shoulder on the wall beside her and listened. He felt his heart expand painfully as he heard her words, smiling down at her tenderly.

"You're praying."

"We should have never come." Goten's smile faded.

"Please don't say that." He requested with a pained sigh.

"She should have never gone." She re-worded, turning towards him, eyes downcast.

"Probably." He agreed, his free hand instinctually raising to stroke her hair. She looked up at him with a frustrated sigh, leaning her temple against the wall.

"I encouraged her to go." She said weakly. "_Enjoy the ride_, is what I told her. What kind of f-friend am I?" She asked rhetorically, her voice breaking. He shook his head softly.

"You're an amazing friend." He said quietly.

She shook her head adamantly, choking out "But what kind of person -"

"An incredible one." He cut off, undeterred by her refusal to believe him, simply grateful that she had not shaken his hand away. Valerie took a deep breath, staring at the ground as tear drops fell onto the ground and her tightly closed fists shook at her side.

"Val?" She looked up, realizing how closely huddled Goten was now, but not minding at the moment.

"I just don't know what to do now. What do I do?" She asked in a whisper, helplessly.

"You keep going." He murmured, continuing to stroke the back of her head. "And you spend time with me until we bring her back." He added, with an encouraging smile when her eyes came back to his. "Val..." He swallowed. "I'm so sorry I couldn't ..." Goten frowned, trying to find the words. "Stop this from happening, but I'll do what I can to help you get through this, I promise." She nodded, sniffling.

"I know." She assured, wiping at her eyes.

"...And I know, this is not the right time..." He added, sighing as he let his hand drop from her hair to her arm and finally down to her finger tips, feeling so unbelievably thankful and encouraged when she automatically wrapped her fingers around his instead of pulling away. He swallowed anxiously, looking down at their hands.

"I just can't help but think," He mumbled, eyes downcast. "About what I would have felt like if that had happened to you and..." He shook his head softly. "You're just such a special person Val and so sweet. I..." He grimaced, not liking how this was coming out at all. He took a deep breath and raised his eyes to find her curiously staring at him, clearly confused.

"Bra told me that Josie made you ask me out," He changed tactics, exhaling on a laugh when she cringed. "But I'm... really glad she did." He added, light color staining his cheeks. "I didn't want to say anything because all we really seem to talk about is when you're leaving." He smiled at her cringe. "But, even if its only another week...I'd really like to spend more time with you." Valerie's mouth nearly dropped open.

"W-" she coughed, "What?" She squeaked. "You-but, you never.."

Goten shrugged, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment, thankful that she hadn't let go of his hand yet. "I had a really good time with you, and I love being around you. All the time, haven't you noticed?" She shook her head dumbly and his smile became even more tender. "Trunks is, and has always, been my best friend in the world, Val...but we honestly drifted apart as we got older. I think I've spent more time at his house in the last few months than I have in years."

Valerie nodded, "Yeah, your mom told me.." He tilted his head, surprised his mother had said anything about the topic. Valerie shook her head. "Go on."

"...I knew you were leaving, from the beginning. I've never been in a situation like this.. and I didn't want to make things weird or hard for either of us." He saw fresh misery return to her face and he shook his head quickly. "No, no. Please don't," He drew her just another inch closer with a small tug of his hand. "I don't want to make you feel bad but I just need you to know this now, Val: I like you." He finally admitted with a tender smile. "I seem to like you more every day."

Valerie stared at him in utter wonderment, as Goten blew out another shaky exhale, looking more uncomfortable and embarrassed than she had ever seen him before. "...Val?" He questioned, nervously as she continued to stare in shock. "I'm so sorry about the timing - I'm sure this is the last thing you need to think about right now-" Valerie finally blinked and squeezed his hand tightly to silence him. Goten swallowed anxiously as Valerie studied his t-shirt with a soft smile, wondering desperately what the heck she could possibly be thinking.

"Your mom...told me you liked me, but-"

"My **mom**?" Goten asked, mortified, letting go of her hand immediately and turning away with a groan, startling Valerie into laughing. She watched him groan and complain aloud for a minute - covering his bright red face and shaking his head in mortification - with her own thankful smile.

Unintentionally, Goten had coaxed her through a moment she had been deathly afraid of, for over a week now, and though she had been sure she would not be able to handle it, somehow, here she was, in fact, handling this with _his_ help. Logic told her that Josie was likely in 'other world' at this very moment, getting ready to receive her sentence of fluffy clouds and harps, and would soon be wished back with the Dragon Balls, just like Goten said.

**Goten**.

She was tempted to grumble at how disgusted she was at the idea that Josie may have been right about him - about them. She smiled at that, as she studied grumbling Goten, deciding that she wasn't disgusted at all; She was _grateful_, that the baka girl may have been right, after all. She shook her head to clear her mind from anything other than this moment, and that amazing guy a few feet away, who she decided she needed to kiss. Taking the few necessary steps to get to him she grabbed him gently by his shirt sleeve to turn him towards her, and as soon as he did, she reached for the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

All thoughts of the humiliation his mom had brought him by talking to Valerie about her little boy's "Crush" had flown at the window as she initiated their very first kiss. He couldn't help but smile widely, as they kissed, scooping her up happily into his arms.

.

..

...

...

* * *

Josie drummed her finger tips on the thigh of her crossed leg, her other elbow on her knee with her chin resting on her closed fist, sulking. She stared out past her cell bars vacantly, a frown cemented on her face, as her fingers drummed harder on her thigh in annoyance. Distantly the noises of bubbling liquid could be heard from the blood filled lake a hundred or so feet away, interrupted only be occasional squawk of a black bird flying across the red sky.

Casually, a white skulled creature walked by, wearing a white and black wife beater and shorts, slowing down to glance at her, immediately receiving an angry growl in response from the small girl in the confines of her outdoor cage.

"**What are you looking at?!**" She shouted, defensively, startling him for a moment, before he continued past her, leaving Josie to slowly settle back in her chair and resume the same position; staring out into the red world in displeasure, as her fingers began to drum on her thigh once more.

After a moment, she snarled with indignation, "This is such a crock of -

* * *

Thank you's:

**Thomas Drovin:** Now I know we've gotten farther this time than we did last time the story was posted because I don't recall you having known about Josie's death before. Wohoo, progress! slow but its progress! X) and to answer your question, you didn't have to wait too much longer for Val and Goten, thankfully! ;)

**GVLuver**: I really hope you liked this chapter! hopefully i'll keep throwing surprises left and right ;)

**ImmatureChild**: Haha, yeah, I considered changing that but there are soooo many more venues to explore with death. I hope the end of this chapter indicated that somethings definitely going on with Josie in otherworld ;)

**Buzzk97:** Aaah! thank you so much, I was so nervous about it that chapter! I love Gotenks too! so that will definitely not be the last time he shows up :D

**GirXzimXfanatic**: Between you and me? nah, I don't think Vegeta hates her ;) but you know how he is, he's so stubborn! shh, I didn't admit that though X) I'm so so glad I could still throw surprises at you guys 30 chapters later though and that you enjoyed it :D

**Evalyd Yamazaki**: I love you, thank you for squealing with me lol I'm sooo stoked that the chapter had you all over the place emotionally, I really hope you enjoyed this one too!

: YES! I'm so glad you mentioned that, I think she'll receive help in coping with the aftermath but she's still definitely going to suffer an after affect, as will Josie from all of this.

**Explorer girl in training:** I'm so, so very glad to hear you say that. You're my most recent review so I hope I still hear from you soon, you made my butt get into gear with editing, so I really appreciate it!

**Notes: **As always, reviews have that wonderful effect of making me feel horribly guilty (Which trust me, is a good thing lol) and make me want to come back to finish editing so please feel free to drop me a line telling me what you think, what you thought, your favorite moment :) they make my day so bright!

Thanks all, I'm sorry for the delay!


	34. Chapter 34: Respect the Gavel

**Disclaimer: **I own no gavel's or convertibles or dragon ball/z/gt characters. Only my silly, silly girls!

**DWMW**

Revised

**Chapter 34**: Respect the Gavel

_*Flashback*_

Josie slowed to a stop down at the wide doors of the Check In Station with wide eyes, gulping at how enormous it was. "...Don't know why I bother to be surprised at how big everything constantly is." She mumbled on a laugh. "Hey Baba," Josie got ready to ask, glancing behind her shoulder at the floating witch who only raised an eyebrow in response. Josie grinned, having spent the long journey here with the curious, grumpy and inquisitive woman. "How come I'm not a fluff?" She asked, pointing a thumb at the line behind her filled with adorable bantering body-less spirits. Baba eyed them before turning to her.

"It's a good question." She admitted, as they entered the check in station.

"And this is the perfect place to answer a question like that," King Yemma's voice boomed in a friendly manner from behind his large mahogany desk. Josie craned her neck in an attempt to look up at him, mouth opening in shock.

"Oh you're friggin huge..." He chuckled.

"Baba, what have you brought me this time?" He asked as Josie continued to gawk. Baba shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"She uh...comes directly from the battle on Namek, King Yemma." King Yemma turned his full attention to Josie, staring at her curiously.

"Really?" He asked, surprised. "You appear to be human... and I am familiar with all the Human fighters from earth."

Josie blinked, closing her mouth as she tried to focus on what his moving mouth had said. "Oh!" She exclaimed, realizing his question. "I'm not a fighter." Josie explained, scratching the side of her head, uncomfortably, wondering how much he knew about their situation.

"If you're not a fighter what-" King Yemma became quiet very suddenly, his countenance darkening.

"You." He said simply.

"...Is there a...problem?" Josie asked with some trepidation, eyes wide as she observed King Yemma's expression change so drastically.

"Baba, you would dare bring _her_ here?" Baba looked embarrassed.

"When I realized she would be here soon I made sure to bring her directly to you." King Yemma tense form studied Josie's confused face.

"I assume you know who I am." He stated, angrily. Josie head tilted just a little bit to the right, hesitating. "WELL?" He asked, louder. Her eyes slowly narrowed as her own anger spiked at how rude this guy was being.

"WELL WHAT, You big jerk?" She asked angrily. "YES, I know who you are, how do YOU know me?" She asked, hands on her hips. He muttered to himself, opening his thick book before him and flipping through it with increasing agitation.

Josie's face slowly began to clear with understanding, "...Oooh." Josie grinned, biting the inside of her check in an attempt to stop herself from laughing. "I see." She vaguely added, arms crossed, unable to wipe off her smile. Beads of sweat appeared on King Yemma's face as he continued to furiously turn pages. "...I'm not in there, am I?" She asked, sounding a little cheeky.

"Of course you are!" His voice reverberated throughout the room. " Everyone is." He said more calmly. "I can see here that you've done nothing worthy of earning the right to keep your physical body." He partially lied, smiling at her in satisfaction when she finally began to look nervous; She took a step back, tensing. "We will rectify that immediately." He assured, feeling more confident as he picked up his gavel.

"No, wait!" She quickly interrupted, stepping forward. "I can't be one of those things - come-on, be reasonable!" He only grinned and slammed his gavel twice.

"I sentence you to eternity as a spirit." He slammed the gable one final time making Josie cringe, protectively covering her head and crouching down on the ground.

Several seconds later, breathing heavily, Josie began to open her fingers apart to peak an eye through, realizing she still felt the same. She slowly began to pull her arms away, looking herself up and down as best she could to make sure everything was there. After as good as an inspection as she could make without a mirror, she mischievously looked up at him with an triumphant grin.

"Whatsa matter, Yams? your thing run out of juice?"

_***End Flashback**_

Josie sighed now as she swatted at a fly miserably, from the same spot she'd been sitting in for hours now.

King Yemma had flipped a lid after that last comment, nearly making her go flying out of the room with how loudly he yelled at her; if it hadn't been for Baba, who held onto her hat with one hand and her hand with the other she was sure she would have flown right out of the room like the unlucky innumerable amount of spirits who flew straight out of the room and off the path. He'd sentenced her right then and there to HFIL - in a cage, no less - the kind of which they put the most powerful of opponents in to prevent escape. He had ordered her to be thrown into one of those along with assigning her her own personal body guard.

"Such friggin over kill." She muttered, crossing her eyes with boredom as she groaned, letting her head thump back onto the cell bars.

...

"She asleep?" Goten asked, eyes focused on Valerie's hands, as they sat on a couch facing one another with legs crossed indian style and fingers entwined; Valerie glanced to the left, nodding as she brought her focus back to their entwined fingers playfully attempting to cover each others thumbs with their own.

Bra had been as brave as she could but had been deeply wounded by the loss, not having even entertained the possibility that their plan to bring Josie back may not work. Goten and Valerie had stayed with her on the couch, promising to stay until she'd fallen asleep.

"I know this is a dumb thing to bring up, especially when we JUST started talking about the possibility of hanging out." Goten quietly said, watching her furrowed brow. "But... how soon after we bring Josie back do you think you'll go, you know..." Valerie stopped her hands then, looking at him apologetically.

"Back home? soon." She admitted. He exhaled heavily with a sad smile, nodding.

"I shouldn't have waited - I just." He pulled up his shoulders a fraction and shook his head. "I was stumped on this one. I knew It'd be asking for trouble because you were leaving but now... I'd really like the chance to..."

"Date?" Valerie asked, Goten eyes connected with her, nodding. Valerie began to move her hands to resume the battle again, smiling lightly.

"It would have been nice." She agreed quietly. "I liked our first date." He nodded, watching her with happiness.

"Me too." He agreed.

"..." Valerie tried to look as casual as she could, unable to hold back a smile. "What would we have done if we had another?" He grinned, pretending to think hard about it.

"A date? oh gee... I don't know." Valerie smacked his arm lightly. "Hm... maybe we would have done normal teen things - instead of the over the top things Bra set up." Valerie grinned over at the bed where the sleeping Saiyan princess slept.

"She and Josie only tried to make it special." She defended good naturedly.

"Oh it was special, alright." He laughed lightly, shutting his mouth when she brought her index finger up to her mouth, pointing at the young girl. He stood up, coaxing her off the couch with their still joined hands. 'Come-on, lets let her sleep."

"Where we going?" She whispered even more quietly as they went out into the hall.

"Well, we apparently don't have a lot of time to do this 'hanging out' and I don't want to waste this time by sleeping. So lets go on a date." He said, easily able to gently pull her out the front door with that declaration. "And get started on that getting to know each other part of dating. Let's go!" Before she could argue, he scooped her up and quickly left the look out. Valerie closed her eyes tightly, not used to the sensation.

"What are we going to do?" She shouted over the wind.

"Eat, of course! How else do people get to know each other?" He asked rhetorically, making her groan as he arched in the air with a grin and flew towards the mountains.

...

Josie miserably pressed her hands against her cheeks, making her lips and upper cheeks puff up, moving one hand full of cheek slightly up - then the other, just for the sake of having something to do.

She stopped abruptly when she noticed a human man arching a brow at her in a bit of distaste, looking quite a bit like Vegeta did every time she was around him. She immediately pulled her hands away, going back to resting her chin on her closed fists, embarrassed. Josie coughed abruptly, eyes wide when she saw the man walking away.

"Saiyan!" She blurted out, shocked. Sure enough, the man immediately turned, looking a lot more guarded now than curious. Instinctually she knew she was right, even just that gesture and look was **just** like Vegeta. She quickly scrambled towards the bars, eyes wide. "You're a saiyan." She repeated. Her guard, glanced at the man, smirking.

"She's found someone else to aggravate, fantastic." Josie shot him a glare.

"I have been five hours in this hell hole trying to get you to say a _single _word to me and you haven't said a peep this whole time - I thought you were mute, jerk." She reprimanded.

"I'm not." He snapped back. "But now I wish I were deaf!" Josie silently gasped, outraged. "Cerean," The ogre called the man who was watching this interaction with crossed arms. "Yemma called you to guard some little dweeb a few miles north - do me a solid and switch me," Her guard pleaded. "I promise you this creature is much more of a challenge that the runt you're being sent too." The man's eyes came back to the Josie as she stared back with a raised brow; if nothing else, Cerean did look at least a bit intrigued by this challenge.

Cerean's hair was dark brown with brown eyes and slightly heavy brow with a straight nose. He had a strong chin and a piercing on his right ear, wearing a long sleeve black spandex top and armored white shorts with a gold lining and white boots to match. If the tail hadn't given him away, surely the direction of his hair and the size of his muscles should have been an indicator; he was roughly Goku's height but with wider shoulders and naturally more muscular build.

Finally after giving the strange female another searching look, he snorted lightly. "Not interested." He assured, raising a gloved hand in goodbye to the guard as he started to walk towards the stairs that led to King Yemma's office nearby. He veered off the path slightly and slowed down when another cage was carried out by two more guards getting ready to place the scratchiest voice'd prisoner Cerean had ever heard.

"YOU FOOLS! Do you not know who I am?!" Babidi' screeched angrily, shaking the bars furiously. "YOU'LL ALL PAY-"

"...Babidi?" Cerean raised a brow at that, how did this girl know every creature down here? He quickly put together that seeing this small little man had not been expected nor a joyous occasion because as soon as she said his name aloud, the color drained from her face and she began to shake furiously.

Babidi turned and looked at her, mouth turning down in a sneer. "You." In a moment, the seemingly rational - albeit snarky girl - lost her cool instantaneously as she started screaming obscenities and threw herself against the cage in an attempt to attack Babidi, who only smiled in amusement.

"Even in death you manage to amuse me." He said, laughing. "Yes, my pet, that's right, act like the animal you are." Cerean eyes narrowed in mild annoyance; the puny old creature's voice was graining his nerves much more than the screaming girl.

"I AM NOT," Josie shouted furiously as Babidi laughed. "**ANYTHING** OF YOURS, you-" Seeing enough, Cerean quickly stepped back into the fray standing between the two cages and signaled Babidi's cage be taken away,

"Go." He commanded loudly to the two men taking him.

"Pathetic reject!" Josie screamed after him, "I'm glad they killed you! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Cerean..." The guard begged, rubbing his ears in obvious pain. "Can you at least cover me for a break?" Cerean exhaled in annoyance, and after a moment he finally nodded. He walked over and took the proper post at the corner of the cage, keeping an eye on the nearly hyperventilating girl who tightly held on to the cage bars, trembling.

After a few minutes of Josie trying to regain her breath and pacing wildly from side to side in her cage, Cerean's voice finally eliminated the tense silence, "Your strength will be insufficient against these bars." He finally explained. "They're meant to hold a being of any possible power level within it." Josie looked at him, surprised.

Did he actually believe that she was powerful? Her inability to break the cage had nothing to do with resistant bars. She could almost laugh...if she wasn't so ready to cry.

She sat heavily on the chair, feeling miserable as she thought of her friends on Namek. What were they doing? were they okay? did they all make it out alive? She felt like she' had been slapped with the memories of the last two weeks, having forgotten or possibly suppressed it for the last day while she'd been stuck here. Had it been a day? had it been longer? it was so hard to tell in this place. Time truly had no meaning in HFIL.

She looked up at the sky for the millionth time - the sky didn't change at all.

She took another deep shaky breath."Your name is Cerean?" She asked, staring at the ground despondently. He studied her, curious as to her drastic mood change from the fiery girl she'd been only a few minutes ago to this. She looked up when she heard no verbal response and immediately her brows drew down when she noticed him staring right at her. "Uh..." She mumbled, trying to think of something to ask him to divert his attention away. Did Saiyans have no manners? did he not realize that was impolite? "Are there a lot of your kind in hell?" She asked, hoping to distract him momentarily. He arched a brow at the odd question.

"My entire race." He answered, seeing no harm in admitting it at this point. Josie choked on a laugh.

"Sorry." She quickly covered her mouth, "I didn't mean to laugh - I wasn't laughing at your planet's destruction, I promise - I just, again, I'm sorry-I was just laughing at the stupidity of my question." She said, shaking her head. "I know that. I knew that. I don't know why I asked." She explained as she looked up and kept eye contact this time with a genuine smile. "My name is Josie." She offered, standing up and putting her hand through the bars.

He looked down at her hand, keeping his own tucked tightly in the crook of each elbow.

"Cerean." He said simply, receiving a small chuckle, as she walked back to her chair, not offended at all.

"Don't worry Cerean, if I intended to hurt you, I would have made a move for your tail a few times by now with your back constantly turned to me." Immediately he whirled in her direction, eyes a bit wide at that statement. Josie sat again, trying to set him at ease with her hands up, and another kilowatt smile. "I wouldn't and your far enough away I probably couldn't reach you if I tried." She attempted to reassure. Her smile immediately faded as she looked past Cerean's shoulder, making him glance back, realizing her guard was back. Her original guard quietly took back his post, talking under his breath for a minute with Cerean before the Saiyan began to leave.

"Thank you, Cerean." Josie said quickly, wanting to make sure he heard her. He glanced at her with a raised brow, perplexed. "You're the only person in this universe who has not disregarded me as weak." She explained, smiling. "I appreciate it." Unsure of how to respond to that, he nodded, and moved to go again.

"You sure you don't want to switch?" The guard asked, jumping on the opportunity. "Obviously, you've managed to tame her." Josie settled herself in a ball in her chair yawning, flipping her guard off without missing a beat when he made the comment, unwittingly amusing the Saiyan.

He seemed to consider the offer for a minute, before finally responding. "...No." Cerean declined.

Josie lifted her head when he responded, a little disappointed by his response, watching him walk away. "See that," Her guard said in annoyance, knocking on her cage, making her jump back. 'Our own Guard Keeper couldn't tolerate you." Ignoring her skittish nerves, Josie stared off at where the Saiyan had left, wondering more about who he was.

...

"Yeah, s-sorry, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Valerie shouted into the cell phone as they called a nearby restaurant Goten had recommended that was open 24 hours a day. "YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT - SORRY, I'M IN A CONVERTIBLE," She continued to shout, elbowing Goten lightly to slow down. She was trying as hard as she could to block out the sound of the wind blowing past them with no luck. Goten only grinned down at her and continued flying. "IT'LL TAKE TWO HOURS?" She questioned, startled. "BUT- YES, I DO REALIZE ITS A HUGE ORDER. FINE, TWO HOURS, THANKS." She hung up the phone, glaring at Goten who only laughed as they began their descend by a mountain side. They finally landed in a clearing of grass.

He set her down gently, smiling as he noticed how absorbed she was in taking in the surroundings. "What is this place?" She asked, impressed as she wandered towards nearby trees. "I can hear water."

"Its one of the places I liked to run off too when I was a kid." He said sheepishly. "Home is not very far from here but enough to keep Gohan and mom from coming too often when me and Trunks wanted to run and play superheroes." Valerie laughed at that,shaking her head as she explored closer towards the water with Goten following her calmly with a smile.

"I don't see the need for you two to ever play super heroes." She mumbled, grinning back at him. "You both already are." Goten shrugged.

"We liked to pretend we were the strongest fighters in the universe, like our dads - Trunks usually won." Valerie grinned.

"I know that feeling. I haven't known Josie my whole life, but I can imagine if we'd been kids in a play pen together, she'd have been the same." He nodded, smiling, hands in his pockets.

"I can see that." He replied with a grin. "If you promise not to go wandering too far I'm going to go collect some wood for a fire."

"I promise." She assured, coming closer to the running river she'd heard as soon as they'd landed. "There you are." She mumbled, happily, going to sit by the river, watching the moon light illuminated water that rushed wildly past her. Valerie smiled, the constricting in her chest, loosening with every moment she spent with the endearing hybrid nearby.

Twenty minutes later Goten came back, dusting his white t-shirt off, clapping the residue on his hands as he went to the area he'd left Valerie at.

"Hey Val, I think I'm just about ready for that fire, I'm sure you're probably freezing by now-... Val?" He slowed when he noticed her form by the river, peacefully sleeping. He chuckled to himself and quickly made his way over to her, picking her up gently and carrying her over to the clearing where he had a huge stack of firewood ready. He placed his previously discarded jacket over her sleeping form, lighting up the fire to keep her warm and carefully sitting down to watch over her from a few short feet away.

...

Josie mindlessly tossed a small ball someone had taken pity on her and had thrown in her cage. Granted, they hadn't so much mercifully left her the ball so much as thrown it right at her head, but still, she considered that a kind pity at this point. She bounced it a few times on her hand, the purpose of the game becoming to not let the ball hit the ground. She'd been at it for over two hours now, having nothing else to do since her guard refused to talk to her.

Which, at this point, was fine with her because he was a jerk. She sat down, settling or tossing and catching the ball, as she thought of all the ways she could annoy him until she got out here. She smiled at that, momentarily loosing her rhythm with the ball, which fell past her waiting hand and onto her knee, flying immediately right out of the cage; leaving her shocked and blinking at it from her spot on the chair.

"..Wilson." She called, miserably, coming off the chair and reaching as hard as she could for it, having no success. She groaned and let herself fall back onto the ground, letting the depression at the edges of her conscious take hold, as she draped her arm over her eyes.

"And you're not getting it back either, girl." The guard said firmly making her groan louder.

"I never thought I'd be able to say I know what you felt like, Tom Hanks..." She was feeling legitimately sorrowful, knowing fully well that days had to have passed at this point. "...All I did was call Yemma's stupid gavel small." She heard a laugh covered by a cough, and glanced to the side seeing Cerean near her cage trying not to look amused at her dismay.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with some annoyance, still a little offended that he'd dismissed her so easily a while back when the offer to watch her cage was given to him. They seemed to have gotten along... as well as any full blooded Saiyan seemed capable of getting along with her - more than the ugly brute currently watching over for sure. She went back to covering her eyes with a sigh, choosing to simply ignore him when he hadn't answered her question. He passed by every single day and never said a word to her and she didn't figure today would be any different. He did always come by though, and she found herself wondering if it was because he was intrigued or because he had too; bozo the clown over there had, after all, called him a guard keeper.

Regardless of the reason, she decided stubbornly; If he was actually curious about her, he would HAVE to at least grunt at her in acknowledge or something instead of his usual rude staring. After a few minutes of silence passed, her curiosity got the best of her and she lifted her hand enough away for her to look at the spot where he'd been and didn't find him there anymore. "Fannnntastic." She muttered, dropping her head back down to stare at the ceiling of her cage.

...

"..I'm sorry."

"Val?" Valerie turned her head and saw Goten smiling at her from a few feet away. "You were mumbling in your sleep." He explained, quickly scooting closer to her, smiling sympathetically at her. "You okay?" He asked, stroking her hair with mild worry in his voice. She nodded, beginning to sit up with his help.

"What was I saying?" She asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing important." He said.

"How long was I out for?" She asked, stretching her arms over her head.

"Almost three hours." He said, sounding somewhat pained. She glanced at him, confused before her eyes widened.

"The Food! I'm so sorry. Lets go get it." He shook his head, smiling sheepishly, pointing past her, near the fire was a dozen large bags of food tightly closed up.

"Sorry." He laughed quietly as he got up and made his way to the food. "I would have set it up to look nice when you got up but I wasn't sure when you last slept or how long you'd be out so I figured it stood a better chance at staying warm if I kept it all bundled." Valerie's mouth dropped open.

"..You didn't already eat?" As if on cue, his stomach produced the loudest growling noise she had ever heard it make, immediately making her burst out into laughter and Goten rub the back of his head with embarrassment.

"Tell me about yourself, Val." He encouraged as he began to dig through the food and pass it to her to set up; He immediately noticed how quickly she blushed when attention was given to her and couldn't help but laugh lightly. She was so curious - one minute she'd taken the reigns and pulled HIM down for a kiss and the next minute she was as shy as a wall flower, unwilling to talk about herself at all. "Would it make it easier if I started?" He offered, grinning at her simple but enthusiastic nod.

"Okay." He started, as he sat back, gratefully taking the drink she gave him. "Well... I'm not sure what you don't know about me, considering the situation..." He laughed a bit.

"I didn't watch GT." She assured, smiling as she sat back. "Your life's not as exposed as you think it is. At least not to me." He nodded slowly, a lot more relieved to hear than than he realized he would be. "Well... I'm not much into fighting anymore." He said with a light shrug, observing her demeanor. "..Does that disappoint you?" He asked, curiously. She blinked, surprised.

"Why would you ask that?" She asked, confused.

Goten shrugged, kind of embarrassed. "I've picked up on the fact that you've kind of got a thing for my dad.." Goten couldn't help but burst out into laughter at how bright red Valerie's face became.

"I don't!" She defended ardently. He nodded, through his laughing, holding onto his sides as he attempted to get a hold of himself.

"I know." He assured, wiping at his eyes. "I didn't mean like THAT. I just meant, you're as into my dad as Josie is into Vegeta, is all." He said, still grinning. "..Or **should** I be warning my mom about you?" Valerie huffed in outrage, throwing biscuit after biscuit at Goten's head making him cry out in shock and horror at the waste.

...

Bulma sat in her work office, staring distractedly at the wall, hands propped up on her desk with tools in hand hovering over the dragon ball radar.

Vegeta already had the Dragon Ball Scouter. She had originally intended to give it to her son but soon had realized that he was missing. Her husband had kept her calm throughout that fiasco, placing the scouter on her own face and finding their sons specific power level stable.

"He's fine." He'd assured, from over her shoulder. "See?" She nodded, relaxing back into her chair with a sigh. "He'll be fine." He added calmly, holding still as she reached behind herself to stop him from leaving right away. "We just need to get these wishes out of the way and go home to our lives." He said encouragingly, "You ready to head to earth?" She squeezed his arm and gave a smile to him, nodding. "Good. Get to it then, woman." He ordered, offering his wife a small smile.

Since then she'd been in her workshop with Hemsworth who silently worked beside her on finishing another radar while Vegeta went to go get her son.

He had immediately known where he was when he saw the scouter's numbers and quickly left the ship and flew directly to the location; diving into the water and resurfacing within the cave without a moments hesitation. He found his son at the far end of the cave, sitting against the cave's walls with a knee up and an arm on it, staring off to the side, looking absolutely worn out.

"How long do you think she was in here for?" Trunks asked, somewhat rhetorically. "...It couldn't have been that long, right?" He added after with a dark chuckle. "I mean, I'd only seen her in bed fifteen minutes before Valerie's voice woke me... it couldn't have been more.." He mumbled, frowning. He lifted his eyes to his father's, who carefully pulled himself out of the water and crossed his arms as he stood inside the cave, water dripping off of him and looking completely unaffected by the scene.

"That's right." Trunks said, louder. "You've been here before, haven't you?" He asked rhetorically. "...Did this bother you, even remotely, father?" He asked, not surprised when his father remained silent. He chuckled once more, turning his head to the right and picking up the axe he'd found earlier and testing its weight. "Suppose it doesn't matter really.." He muttered more to himself. "She put this into his side." He explained. "The little Namek told us that little tidbit of information, I think I can see where it happened too." Nodding towards the spot. " You probably didn't think she had that in her, did you?" Still nothing.

"I didn't." He mumbled. And still nothing.

Trunks brow twitched, his jaw tight. He shook his head with disgust and threw the axe to the side and let his head fall back onto the cave contours. A few minutes of more silence, he felt a small plop on his lap and looked down to find the scouter his father had been wearing a few minutes ago.

"We can start the search, you and I, tonight." Vegeta said strongly, staring directly at his son. "Kakarrot and the others can catch up later." Trunks stared at his father, eyes wide in surprise that his father would offer to get a jump start on this, when he hated Josie as much as he did. "Well?" His father asked impatiently, wanting to get his son out of this cave now. Studying him for deception, Trunks finally nodded and got up, tentatively smiling.

"Thank you." Trunks said sincerely. He turned on the scouter and blinked in surprise when the scouter showed that all seven of the balls were in completely different parts of the planet. "..How did they get so far apart again?" Trunks asked, confused.

"I'll explain later, lets go." Not wishing to waste any more time inside this cave, Vegeta took his son out of the dark and dank cave and the two headed off towards the first Dragon Ball while the others began to gather in front of the ship.

...

While Goten and Valerie laughed, Goku materialized before them, smiling.

"Sorry to interrupt guys," He started. "But I just wanted to let you guys know that Puchi's pretty eager to head back to his family, so we'll be going to Namek soon."

"Tonight?" Valerie asked, somewhat panicked, receiving a nod. Goten stood up, turning towards his father with a smile.

"I think I'll sit this one out dad, I'm going to help out here." Goku's smile grew.

"It's your decision, son." He reassured kindly. "Just take care of your mom for me and tell her I'll be back real soon." He said with a small wave for both of them, putting his fingers to his forehead as Valerie shouted,

"WAIT" Both men turned to look at her, a little surprised.

"..Yes?" Goku asked.

Valerie turned to Goten, hesitating. "I... I think you should go with him." Goten looked like he would not have been more surprised if she told him to light his hair on fire and moonwalk upside down while in the air. "I know, kind of strange." She laughed, embarrassed. "But...how is Trunks?" She asked, wishing she would have asked earlier, especially after the shadow that came across Goten's face at the question. She nodded. "Yeah, go to Namek." She insisted. "You can help them find the Dragon Balls faster." She stepped closer to him, lowering her voice. "I need Josie to come back home with me, and there's no one I trust more with that than you two. Please help him bring her home." Goten seemed to be struggling with the decision.

"But you.."

"I will be fine, thanks to you." She assured. "Do I feel good? no, not really." She admitted. "Since you told me I've kind of felt like breaking down and throwing up, in no particular order... but I'll be okay." She assured with a small smile. "I'll be better the sooner you bring her." She added. "Please?" Goten shook his head.

"You're such a great friend." He mumbled to himself, noting the disbelief in her eyes; before he argued or added to it, Valerie stepped up to Goku smiling.

"Let's go back to the look out." She asked, noting Goku looked to Goten for permission.

"...Back to Namek it is then." Goku said with a smile. Goten agreed, moving to them and grabbing onto his father's shoulder.

The three quickly arrived at the look out where only Dende, Puchi and Mr. Popo were waiting outside. "Everyone is asleep. We didn't think it wise to wake them - after everything they've all gone through." Dende explained to the three. Valerie immediately turned to Goku, giving him a tight hug and lingered in a hug with Goten for a long minute.

"..I'm really sorry," Goten couldn't help but mumble through the embrace.

"Just bring that pain in the butt back home to me." Valerie insisted, smiling brilliantly at him as she pulled away. "And come back safe." He nodded, winking.

"You've got it." She stepped back to let him go, standing beside the others and watching Puchi go to Goku who happily greeted him again, lifting him up into his arms and put his hand on his son's shoulder.

"See you all really soon." Goku said to his friends with all the sincerity in the world, dematerializing out of view.

"Bye.." Valerie mumbled.

...

Bulma walked down the halls of the space-ship, staring intently at the screen of the blipping Dragon Ball radar, a grin starting on her face as she quickened her pace.

"Good boy." She mumbled strongly, as she rounded the corner and made it down the steps and outside where the Goku and Goten had just materialized with a little Namek. Not missing a beat, she threw the Radar at Goten who caught it easily, looking up at her.

"They've already got one." She declared, proudly. "Go." Needing no other words, a grinning Goten immediately flew up into the air, feeling a lot more optimistic about how this would all turn out; happy to have gotten to spend the time he did with Valerie and grateful to have the opportunity to help his best friend get another good friend of theirs back.

He turned back, "Come-on, Dad!" He shouted down; He saw Bulma and Goku exchange a few words before his father came hurtling towards him, looking just as excited as he was to begin ending the chapters of this wild adventure.

* * *

Thank you's:

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**ImmatureChild: **Not much information on the mysterious man in this chapter but I promise, he will not be forgotten and more will be seen from him in the future. As for Vegeta, there may not be immediate gratification but everything that's happened will have an effect on him, I assure you! PS. You gave me the BEST PS I have ever read ;)

**Thomas Drovin:** Hopefully this chapter explained a little better why she was put in HFIL. Is it a good reason the King gave? no, but I think he/as well as many people in that galaxy will show that they are afraid of what they don't understand and I love exploring all the possible reactions people can have to them, not to mention King Yemma has always been an easily angered character with a tendency to overreact. And YES, I loved Goten too, he was such a good friend and honestly just such a good person with good character, just like I'd like to think his parents taught him to be.

** :** I sent you a PM in regards to why Josie was in HFIL and I REALLY hope that this chapter explained some bits, if you have any other questions/concerns, please let me know!

**Evalyd Yamazaki:** I felt so bad for Trunks too! right now, he's hurting, he's angry, he's confused during this time but I'm going to do some light chapters to counterweight all the heavy stuff that just went down. Don't worry about not remembering much about other world, I'm going to remind everyone in a hopefully fun way and explore old characters ;)

**Buzzk9: **You know what I'm really loving? everyone's reaction to Josie being in HFIL. You all have no idea how GRATIFYING it has been to hear outrage over this because I truly was under the impression Josie was not a character that people cared for that much about because of how childish and impulsive she can sometimes be. I personally love her for it, I think she's very flawed and Very young and making mistakes but she will be learning from them and she will Grow; and as you said, she is a lot stronger than they give her credit for. Anyway! :) thank you so much for your comment, I promise, I'll take good care of her and give her things to smile about soon :) I love the term Quasi-evil haha, that perfectly describes our ball of chaos and destruction.

**Luvrainluv:** Heck yeah I am! today! and HOPEFULLY next saturday/sunday too ;) as long as the reviews keep coming, I'll keep forcing myself to get up and post! I promise :)

**DreamAngel2713:** I sent you a PM to tell you how grateful I was for your reviews and truly, truly, I could not tell you how happy and stoked I was to receive each and every one of your reviews. Those kinds are always the best because you let me share in your reactions, thank you!

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**Note: **Thank you all SO much again, like I mentioned to a reviewer, I LOVED reading your reactions to all the things that have gone down. It's so very cool for you me to see how much you guys care about Trunks, Goten, Valerie And Josie. So stoked for the next few chapters. Please review! Wish me a safe trip, I'm going to Vegas in a few hours :)


	35. Chapter 35: Swim With the Tide

**Disclaimer**: I own no tides or swimmers, but I dreamt of marrying Michael Phelps once...

**DWMW **

Revised

**Chapter 35**: Swim with the Tide

Goku, Vegeta and Goten stood at the top of - what was likely - the largest cliff and waterfall on New Namek, looking down at the high drop with some discomfort.

"It's in there..?" Goku asked, glancing back over his shoulder to look at the radar Goten was holding in front of him in both hands, looking right down at it presently and nodding in confirmation.

"Yup." His son assured.

Goku gulped audibly, "...Vegeta, you should get this one." He suggested, eyes widening when Vegeta angrily grew in size, shouting down at him.

"Kakkarot, you coward!" Before he said much more than that, Vegeta was distracted - as were the other two - by a quickly approaching Trunks who flew right at them, stopping when he got to Goten's side.

"Hey Goten, I'm having a hard time reaching this dragon ball a couple hundred miles from here, can you give me a hand?" Trunks requested, wiping the sweat off his brow, wearing only a wife beater and his khaki shorts - shoes and all discarded as he attempted to reach his current dragon ball.

"Sure." Goten lightly threw the radar at Vegeta who caught it and pointed down towards the waterfall, glaring at Goku wordlessly, who gulped, easing a finger into his collar and pulling it away from himself for a moment, looking at the drop nervously.

"Do I have to?-" Vegeta immediately covered Goku's mouth, frowning quietly as he looked up at the sky. In moments Trunks and Goten were staring up as well, leaving only a confused Goku staring wildly at them. "Guys, whats-" Goku's muffled voice attempted to ask.

"Be quiet." Vegeta commanded. "Listen."

"_Wil-BE QUIET. Ahem. Goku, are you there?_" Baba's raspy voice asked from the sky. Goku's eyes widened and a smile came on his face as he stared up, curiously.

"Heya Baba, how are you doing?"

"_I'm fine Goku, thank you. As you likely already figured, this is not a social call I'm paying you_." Goku nodded, relaxed fists coming up his waist.

"I figured." He acknowledged with a grin. "What's up?"

"_I've been arguing with your... less than pleasant former Master, North Kai and I think it's a discussion you need to be here for._" Goku scratched his head, confused.

"You need me to help you clear up an argument?" He asked, surprised that they would ask for his help settling a simple argument when they had to know that they were in the middle of something. "..Okay, but its that important?"

"_Its regarding your friend, Goku, the human girl-_''

"_She is not a human!_" North Kai huffed in the background, letting out a yelp of pain a second later.

"_AS I SAID, your human girl-_"

"Josie?" Trunks interrupted, worriedly. "What's going on with her? Is she with you?"

"_No_." Baba answered simply. "_She is not. I know you cannot travel to the Grand Kai's planet unless you're dead but you are able to__meet me in at the Check-in Station to at least speak to King Yemma. Can you do that Goku?_" Goku glanced at Trunks' anxious expression and put a hand on his shoulder, attempting to give him a reassuring smile.

"Of course." He said to Baba. "Me and Trunks will both be there." Trunks visibly relaxed, smiling back at Goku.

"_Good._" Baba said firmly. "_An hour, Goku._"

"We'll be there." He assured.

...

"I hope he bores you." Josie said dully, staring up at the ceiling of her cell, laying there, miserable, as Cerean passed by on his way, as he did every day, towards his own assignment. He slowed as he did most days when she spoke to him, but never stopped anymore. "I hope he smells too." She added, voice thick with un-use and misery. She heard something she rarely heard him do out loud:

he laughed.

She could hear him mumbling quietly with her guard and then, as normal, his foot steps retreated. She immediately noticed that the footsteps didn't sound like his though; she turned her head and blinked in surprised when she saw Cerean looking down at her, arms crossed and no other guard anywhere in sight.

"Where's the big bozo?" Josie asked, surprised, scrambling to sit up, hair in the most unflattering messy bun sitting atop her head. He arched a brow at her disheveled appearance, attempting to not let his amusement show.

"What?" She asked defensively, hands immediately going up to her hair. "I'm sorry but you try living without a mirror or comb or pathetic Yemma forbid, a shower." She bit sarcastically; and still, that look of amusement would not leave his face. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you preferred the smelly, boring twig they gave you." She asked, as she began to take down her hair.

"He's three times your size." He corrected with a smirk.

"...Well, crap." She mumbled, sighing when he pointed for her to take a seat on the chair, far away from him. "I usually find it a compliment when people think of me as a threat but I think you're the only person whose managed to bug me with this." She informed, taking her seat and immediately slouching forward, putting her elbows on her knees and chin in her hands.

Cerean didn't respond to that, only kept his shoulder against the corner of her cage, staring directly at her for the next few minutes, with clear distrust. She must have really gotten under his skin with that exposing his tail comment because the appendage was tightly secured on his waist and he stood in a way that said he wasn't scared of her but that he did take her as a possible threat. She shook her head; the thought was so ludicrous.

Her fingers silently twitched for a few minutes under his gaze until she finally burst, jumping up. "OK," She shouted. "The big tomato headed jerk may have not spoken to me but at least he didn't stare at me all the time, he at least gave me privacy - so DO YOU MIND?" She asked, loudly. His slow response was only his lips raising at one corner, making her shake her hands in the air and plop herself back down and take a deep breath, refusing to look in his direction to keep her sanity.

_There's no way he can still be staring, right? he got the hint, no man - even a Saiyan - can be that thick... _She glanced up and she could swear that she felt a blood vessel burst. Obviously Cerean could see that too, because he blinked with surprise and took a small step back before Josie blew up, "WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?! ARE YOU DEAF OR DO YOU-"

"Shut up!" Her original guard warned, smacking her cage loudly as he came up from behind the cage, terrifying Josie who was startled into a scream, falling back on to the ground.

And there it was again, Cerean noted. It was the same look that she had gotten when the small sorcerer had been brought in.

"Sorry about that, she's annoying but she's not usually that loud." The ogre interrupted Cerean's thoughts, rubbing at his ear unhappily. Cerean looked once more at the teenage girl on the ground who stared at them, trying to regain her breath, and he had to walk away.

Josie groaned from her spot on the ground, rolling onto her stomach and desperately wishing she could melt into the ground. Did she really scream like a 10 year old girl at a minor noise? That must have looked supremely strong and brave in front of this new Saiyan she'd been trying to befriend for days. She just wanted to not embarrass herself in front of **one **Saiyan, was that so much to ask for? didn't matter who, just one of them.

"Wow, you really looked stupid there, didn't you?" The ogre pointed out with amusement. Josie immediately lifted her head and glared at 'Bozo' lifting up her middle finger, receiving no response.

Josie exhaled into a raspberry, draping an arm over her tired eyes, feeling frustrated. She decided the best course of action was to just try to sleep and ignore the rude ogre as much as possible...and Cerean for that matter, if he ever happened to come back after that humiliating debacle.

She was unable to do that for more than a few minutes more, as a set of powerful steps came towards them once more. She lifted her arm just enough to look out of one eye, and was shocked to see Cerean talking quietly with Bozo.

After a few minutes of tense shoulders and rapid discussion, the ogre threw a glare in her direction and stomped off, leaving her once again, alone with Cerean. Josie sat up, blinking. "Cerean..?" She asked, confused. He looked over his shoulder at her, waiting for her question but the words died in her mouth. What the heck was going on? Hearing nothing more than his name, Cerean went back to staring out.

Josie scrambled up, dusting her bottom, licking her dry lips as she tried to figure out what she wanted to ask first. "Where did Bozo go?" He didn't seem to understand the question, so she rephrased it, "Where's the ogre?"

"He's been reassigned." He said simply, bored.

"...Are you my new guard?" Cerean snorted at that, glancing at her briefly before shaking his head.

"No." He said simply. "Your new guard will be here momentarily." Josie nodded dumbly, internally jumping up and down in excitement - just happy to no longer have the foul tempered ogre as her guardian. She quietly went back to her seat, staring at Cerean's back with a smile, thankful to have met him.

"You displayed a lot more fight in you before." Cerean finally said, shooting her a brief look through the corner of his eye; clearly displeased, likely with her earlier display of fear. "I did not think it would be as easy as it was for your guard to break you." Josie's eyes immediately widened and her smile dropped, heat flushing her skin.

"Excuse me?" She asked, dangerously.

He shrugged. That's all, just shrugged and looked away. "No, you look at me after saying something like that, you jerk!" Josie shouted, standing up; Glad to see him do exactly as she demanded. "You have no idea how twisted my life has become, and I am sorry to tell you, _buddy_," She spit out sarcastically, slowly going towards him feeling foolish as all heck for remotely even considering the possibility that he was trying to be her friend. "But the truth is you likely deserve to be in hell but I definitely don't deserve to be down here for talking back to an overgrown fat guy with a god complex." She bit out hatefully, eyes furious and hands around the cell's bars.

Cerean's eyebrows came up, somewhat impressed by her bullet like tirade. Josie watched his expression change and exhaled angrily, did he really have the gall to look impressed right now? "And your name is stupid." She added with exasperation, as he continued to lean his shoulder on her cage and stare. "Its not even a vegetable.." She mumbled, unhappily; And of course, Cerean said nothing; only continued to stare.

Rolling her eyes in discontent at his silent evaluation, Josie turned her back to him and leaned her back on the bars; letting her body slide down the bars miserably, until her bottom was on the ground. Why was she still friggin here? "I just hate this place so much." She muttered with a sigh.

After endless minutes of silence and self pity on Josie's part - Out of no where - she felt a squishy plop on her legs and blinked down, seeing Wilson, her small ball sitting on her lap. Her eyes widened, quickly scrambling up and staring at Cerean with confusion that quickly morphed into amazement. _Why? how? _

_Why!_

Cerean looked away with slight distaste, uncomfortable and obviously displeased, not having wanting her to make a big deal out of the meaningless looking away, Cerean's discomfort turned to caution in a matter of seconds when he noticed two ogres approaching them, eyeing the girl. He knew which guard he has requested for the difficult young prisoner and neither of these two were it.

"What's wrong?" Josie asked, perplexed; having sensed Cerean's tension.

"That's close enough." Cerean warned. Both ogres stopped when cautioned too and shifted their focus to Cerean.

"Is your prisoners name Josie?"

"Who is asking." He retorted, somewhat defensively, turning his body towards them.

"King Yemma, sir."

Cerean studied them wordlessly, before finally nodding. "Its her." He confirmed.

"King Yemma requests you bring your prisoner to see him as soon as possible, will you be needing assistance?" Cerean studied Josie who gave him an _'Are you kidding me?_' look.

She rolled her eyes, "You won't." She said pointedly, with a small smile of amusement at how cautious Cerean was, who in turn nodded slowly and turned back to the others, signaling them away with a head nod. They threw her keys for him to catch and went on their way without a look back. Cerean lightly bounced the keys in his hand, thoughtfully, as he took his time coming to the entrance to her cage where she waited, eagerly. He stopped and frowned.

"Away from the door, girl." He warned. She grinned, wordlessly moving away from the door, giving him her back and spreading her arms on the bars in slight exaggeration, contentedly letting her forehead rest on the bars as she heard them open behind her, the sound now equivalent of harps and everything good.

"Walk back to me." He said sternly, protocol imbedded into him. She did so, smiling, not flinching a bit when he put his hands over her arms to lower them and turned her around to face him ignoring her happy and relaxed smile as he put her hands in front of her and handcuffed her with wilson ball still in her hands. Josie just continued to beam up at him.

"Nice to finally see you fully without the bars in the way." She insisted, sociably. She saw his eyes narrow but continue on their task. Josie didn't mind, she continued to smile and he stood beside her and put a hand on her lower back to nudge her lightly forward.

"I can keep Wilson?" She asked, nodding to the little ball in her pressed hands. He glanced at it, nodding, and almost immediately regretted it because of how much happier she got, rolling his eyes at her absurd behavior over a stupid ball. "You're really awesome Cerean, you know that?"

"Yes, I hear that all the time." He muttered sarcastically as he nudged her more firmly, making her laugh. They arrived back at the Check in Station in no time where Josie's jaw nearly dropped at the sight of Trunks and Goku standing in front of Yemma, who appeared to be in the middle of a heated discussion.

Josie stopped, making Cerean bump into her, who didn't say a word but immediately noticing her change in mood, as panic and fear now dominated her wide eyes. "Did they die..?" She asked herself quietly, heart racing.

"No halo." Cerean pointed out, making her frown flicker away in an instant, slowly to be replaced with an exuberant joy he had never seen from her before.

"Trunks." Josie breathed out, grinning. "**TRUNKS**!" She shouted, laughing when she saw his head snap in her direction and similar grin come on his face.

"Excuse me." Trunks mumbled to Goku, quickly bypassing him and rushing to her, picking her up in a few strides and unintentionally spinning her, as he hugged her tightly; completely oblivious to her cuffed hands. He pulled away just as quickly to look her over with worry, hands running blindly over her hair, face and shoulders to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. "Are you okay?" He asked gently, his hands cupping her cheeks, frowning as her stifled laugh rang in the air.

"Sorry," She mumbled as he released her. "-just kind of a silly question, being dead and all." She grinned. "Are _you_ okay?" She asked, grin dissolving when she saw the scratches and seeing his still ripped clothes. Trunks shook his head, waving off her concern with his hand as he briefly glanced down at his state.

"I'm fine-" Trunks finally seemed to take notice of her tiny cuffed hands holding onto a strange yellow ball and the serious looking man beside her. Trunks stiffened, looking over this stranger, before turning to King Yemma angrily.

"Was all of this necessary?" He asked with irritation. Josie was able to see now that Baba was behind Goku as well, hovering quietly to the side.

"Goku, I told you the reasons behind my decision. I WILL NOT change my mind." King Yemma said firmly to Goku, ignoring Trunks question as he, Josie and Cerean went to stand with the others. "Now you are holding up my line and there are many souls for me to sentence, so if you do not mind-"

"Aw come-on King Yemma, she's a defenseless girl." Goku argued, making Josie tense, glancing at Cerean who eyes were beginning to narrow. _Whoops_, Josie thought.

"She doesn't belong in hell, King Yemma!" Trunks argued passionately.

"I said, my sentence is final!" King Yemma shouted, quickly angering at the two back talking Saiyans who'd been questioning his ruling for the last half hour before he got the prisoner involved. "I WILL NOT have a creature like her in other world without the strongest security measures and strictest rules set in place, and the only place I have like that here is HFIL."

"But that's so unfair-"

"You're lucky I didn't send her to the ninth circle!" King Yemma shouted. "She's a-"

"Guys." Josie interrupted, stepping forward. "Let's please not talk about me as if i'm not right here, yeah?" She asked through slightly gritted teeth. "Can we first please have these taken off?" She asked, raising up her hands. King Yemma hesitated but Goku interceded.

"King Yemma, she's been with us for months, trust me on this, she is not a danger." He tried to reason.

"Fine, remove the cuffs." King Yemma waved his hand, dismissively, not wanting to argue such a minor detail. Cerean came up to face her, taking both hands into his own and carefully removing the handcuffs, ignoring her bright smile as he did it. Once finished she handed him Wilson; he quietly took it and stepped back again to observe.

"Thank you, Cerean." Josie mumbled, rubbing her wrists contentedly, as she turned back to the others. "Guys, you're going to wish me back anyway, right?" Josie asked Goku and Trunks who both nodded.

"I promise it won't take more than another day, Josie." Trunks reassured. Josie smiled.

"Well then, I don't mind staying in HFIL." She informed, making their mouths drop open. "What?" She asked, surprised. "The place isn't bad - the only thing I would ask is that I no longer be caged like an animal." She said, turning to glare at King Yemma at that last part.

"YOU'VE BEEN WHAT?" Trunks asked, shocked.

"She is a danger." King Yemma said, unashamed. "Goku, we've known each other a long time, you and I; I know how your nature is, I know you want to think the best of people but her presence here is not natural - knowing as little as we do about her, I cannot, in good conscious, let a soul like hers loose in other world to roam with others whose entire histories we have to judge them on. It is not safe. She _is_ a menace."

"...A day?" Cerean repeated in question, surprising the others.

"Yeah." Trunks said, stiffly. "What about it?"

"King Yemma," Cerean began, ignoring Trunks. "If it is required that the girl remain in HFIL - I can be her guard and ensure she does nothing to disturb the peace while her people take their day." Josie stared in amazement at him, a broad smile on her face.

"That's a great idea." She said immediately. "Goku himself told you, I'm no danger - the fact that I'm dead should be a testament to how weak I am, and this guy can take me down in a fraction of a second," Josie admitted. "I'll stay with Cerean - OUTSIDE of that cage, in HFIL to make YOU feel more comfortable." She said to King Yemma. "Until I'm wished back."

"In which shortly thereafter, you will LEAVE this existence and never come back." King Yemma added hotly, facing her with disdain. She looked at the ground as she mulled it over, raising her eyes slowly to look at him, trying to hide her contempt.

"That's the plan." She bit out, with annoyance. King Yemma mulled it over for a few seconds, stroking his beard as he thought over the offer and studied his anxious long time friend and the worlds constant savior; finally, he nodded in agreement and slammed down his gavel.

"This ruling is effective immediately." He agreed. "Now really Goku, do not come back until you are dead and please get out of here, you're causing a jam." Goku grinned happily at King Yemma.

"Thank you!" He said, relieved, turning to the others. "It was really nice to see you again, Josie, we'll get you home real soon." Goku assured. Josie smiled at him.

"Thank you." She said honestly.

Goku nodded, putting a hand on Trunks shoulder. "Ready, Trunks?" He asked. Trunks shook his head, eyes on Josie, still unable to comprehend how that smiling small girl had dealt with... he cleared his throat and stepped out of his reach, smiling down at Josie who only looked up at him curiously, a small smile on her own face.

"I really needed to see you." He said finally, sighing with relief as Josie wrapped her arms around his middle, allowing his chin to rest on her head as he firmly tightened his own arms around her. Josie smiled, cheek happily smooshed on his arm.

"It's really good to see you too." She agreed, through a muffled mumble. "Is Val okay?" She asked as she pulled away gently, receiving a nod.

"Goten was with her for a while. She knows you're coming home soon though." He added when he saw her beginning to frown.

"You're a Saiyan, aren't you?" Goku's voice curiously asked Josie's guard from behind Trunks, not seeing Trunks eyes nearly bug out at that, immediately pulling Josie slightly away from her guard.

"What?" He asked, disgusted. "Josie did you-" One look at Josie's face had Trunks rolling his eyes. "What am I asking, of course you knew, you can't stay with him." Trunks began to argue. Josie shrugged off Trunks hand on her shoulder, unbothered by the demand.

"I'll be fine!" She insisted. "It's only for a day, you said so yourself. Trust me, there's nothing worse than that boring cage down there. Cerean is a decent guy." She assured, looking over at Cerean who was ignoring them and focusing on Goku, snorting.

"You're a Saiyan as well, or at least you were - before your tail was removed." Goku glanced at his backside, looking at the fighter sheepishly.

"Yeah, that's been gone for a long time." He admitted. "Cerean, right?" Receiving a nod, he continued. "Cerean, I'm hoping you're a man of your word, we're trusting you with a very special girl." Cerean nodded.

"She will not be harmed." He assured.

"Thank you." Goku said simply, cutting off Trunks remark. "Come-on Trunks, lets go continue the hunt for the dragon balls." Goku said to Trunks, taking him by the shoulder to stop him from arguing or worse yet, fighting with him right at the Check In Station. Trunks simply stared at the Saiyan who did nothing to look away, simply stared back.

"Well..."Josie started, after a somewhat awkward silence. "Me and Cerean have some stuff to do, so I'll see you guys soon, okay?" She said as she moved towards Cerean and taking him easily by the forearm, to which he reacted with surprise, following after her.

"Come-on, Trunks." Goku repeated. "Nothing we can do but get the dragon balls faster." Trunks nodded, disturbed, beginning to turn away when he heard Josie call back.

"Wait! Trunks?" Trunks turned back and saw Josie hesitant with something looking more shy than he'd ever seen her before. "I didn't see him so I wasn't sure..." She fidgeted uncomfortably. "Did you get him? ...Kuji?" She asked hesitantly. Trunks felt his heart tighten at the undisclosed emotion that rang clear in her question. He nodded, jaw tight but able to give her a small smile.

"You bet I did sweetheart," He assured strongly. "He's gone." And just like that, the emotion he wanted to pretend she never had to feel disappeared from her face and a bright smile came back as she nodded, giving him a final wave before disappearing with the Saiyan into a set of huge double doors.

He turned back to Goku, exhaling loudly. "Lets go get her out of here."

Goku nodded. "Thanks again, guys!" With a final wave the two men disappeared.

...

On earth Valerie, Bra, Pan and Giru had gone back to Capsule Corporation where Pan and Giru had taken care of giving Videl and Chichi updates on Planet Namek. Bra and Valerie silently went up the stairs while the others celebrated the impending homecoming of their loved ones.

Valerie led Bra to her bedroom door and stood at the doorway, anxiously.

"Bra, are you sure there's nothing I can do for you?" Bra glanced at her as she sat on her bed and shook her head.

"No thanks."She mumbled quietly. Valerie nodded, taking the door and slowly closing it. She sighed as she leaned her forehead on it and muttered to herself unhappily as she went into her own room and dropped herself on her mattress, frustrated.

...

"...Can we sit for a few minutes?" Josie said, somewhat shaken, looking a lot more somber now than the upbeat excitable girl she'd been at the Check-in Station a few minutes ago for her apparent colleagues. Nodding, Cerean lead her to a blood fountain nearby and wrinkling her nose, Josie silently sat beside it, immediately putting her elbows on her knees and rubbing her face with her hands a few times as she took a few deep breaths.

"You don't want to remain here, you lied to those people." Cerean pointed out. Receiving no response, he didn't interrupt for another few minutes as he allowed her to recover in silence. He glanced at the sky, seeing only a singular black crow circle above them, looking back to Josie who stared out ahead, distracted - her silence beginning to bother him.

"You know a living Saiyan." He eventually pointed out more forcefully. She turned her face slightly in his direction, stopping her movements and nodded vaguely.

"Yeah." She mumbled with a sigh as she slowly sat up, realizing he wanted to talk about this. He definitely deserved an explanation after all that. "They're both Saiyans actually." She explained. That, startled Cerean who coughed for a few moments, staring at her in surprise.

Josie faintly smiled at that. "I know. Interesting coloring." She gestured towards her hair as she turned her body slightly towards him, happier to talk about her friends. "He's half earthling - a planet I'm sure you never heard of or could care less about." Cerean looked mildly revolted at the idea of a saiyan having children with another race.

"Hey." Josie argued defensively with a grin, pushing him lightly with her fist to his arm, noticing his immediate attention to that appendage, body slightly tense at the playful gesture. "Sorry." She smiled at the ground. "I should be more careful about that stuff." She admitted. "I'm sorry." She repeated, making him arch a brow at her almost worried sounding apology. "Um.." She quickly got up, hands wringing each other nervously as she paced before him, glancing at him to gauge his level of anger.

"I'm sure you probably know his father." She said quickly, thankful when he looked at her questioningly and seemed to relax. "Well...I don't know if you got to meet him or anything - but that guy you met, he is the Prince's son." That immediately made Cerean tense up, shock written all over his face.

"Prince Vegeta?" He questioned, with disbelief. She nodded, side stepping him a little to create a little more distance.

"Yeah. Again, don't look so surprised. He's half earthling." Cerean nodded, still staggered, but growing a little irritated at her anxiety filled behavior.

"Sit down." He commanded, confused. She did so without argument, knees bouncing uneasily.

"Sorry."

He ignored her. "The prince.." He muttered to himself, thoughts traveling to a time he'd long ago forgotten about when he had been alive. He remembered his King and his Queen, he remembered the small frowning prince as well and smirked, imagining what a fierce warrior he must have become, not at all really surprised that he'd managed to stay alive as long as he had but thoroughly shocked that he'd ended up with a son that looked like THAT.

"Tell me about the Prince." He requested, turning to her with his arms crossed, intrigued. "He is alive?" He wanted to confirm.

"I... would assume so." She said with a light shoulder shrug, licking her lips uncomfortably as she looked away. "The last time I remember seeing him he was a little beat up but I was a bit... distracted." She mumbled quietly, confusing Cerean. She glanced up and put her hands to her side with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I was dying when I saw him last - he's the Prince of all Saiyans though, I'm sure he came out of it ok." She said standing up and clearing her throat. "B-but you heard Goku and Trunks, I'm not long for this world, and I have A LOT of things I want to do before I go back, so lets go!" She reached for his wrist and he immediately pulled back, tense once more, making Josie pause and study him carefully.

"...I guess we should get this taken care of before anything else." She said more to herself, turning to face him, looking him straight in the eyes. "First of all, thanks." She said, surprising him, which in turn automatically made her smile. "Thank you for being nice to me - as nice as you can be anyway," She grinned. "I know you didn't have to do those things for me while I was locked up in that cage," She said, pointing at Wilson in his hands as an example.

"But as my friends and King Yemma pointed out; I am actually really weak." She said with a smaller smile, as she let her gaze drop to the ground - her shoe absently digging into the ground. "So, I'm sorry for reaching for you at times - I get excited and I don't think about what I'm doing but I promise I never mean to threaten or hurt you. I'm too weak to possibly be able to mean you any harm and its just...been a while since I've had contact with others." She admitted with a grimace, looking back up at him.

"I'm sorry for pretending to be stronger than I was when I was locked up - I think I was you know, like over compensating for all the stuff that's..." Her mouth tightened and she forced a grin out, ignoring his curious gaze. "I couldn't hurt you if I tried." She assured once more. "I think we're just both a little on edge about the other without the bars between us," She admitted.

"But I really want to move past it and I'm sure you've got more questions about me and I would be more than happy to answer them later..." She took a deep breath as a mischievous smile began to creep upon her lips.

"Aaas soon as you point me in the direction of a Saiyan named Bardock."

...

"Vegeta, why cant I hold your leg?" Goten asked unhappily as he hung upside down with Vegeta holding his ankle not looking amused by the situation either.

"Be quiet boy, get the ball." Goten rolled his eyes before dunking back into the fast stream of water filled with rocks and jagged edges all around. Goten reached under water in between two thick rock formations but as hard as he tried he could not get his hands between them. He blew out bubbles in exasperation at his lack of progress and drew his hands back.

Vegeta above the water immediately saw the light growing underneath the water and shook his head.

"Goten, no-" It was too late, Goten had blown the rock and he could feel Goten scrambling to reach for the quickly escaping ball. Vegeta rolled his eyes in displeasure before becoming distracted and looking up when he felt Goku and his son back on the planet and only a few hundred feet away.

"Vegeta!" Goten spurted as he got out of the water, shaking his head to clear it of water. "**I had it!** I almost had it, Vegeta! it's going down stream now though..."

"Then go get it." Vegeta said simply, dropping the half saiyan into the water and flying off, leaving Goten rapidly heading down stream, knocking into rocks left and right howling in pain.

Vegeta flew to meet them in the sky, studying his son whom he had expected to return looking a lot more relaxed and optimistic, but instead, came back looking more worried then when he had left.

"Where's Goten?" Trunks asked, confused as his dad came up to them. Vegeta pointed a thumb behind him at the water fall and Trunks nodded.

"I'm going to go help him with the ball - Goku, do you and my dad want to head towards the next one?" Goku nodded.

"Sure, Trunks." Vegeta lightly threw the round dragon ball radar to Trunks and flew off with Goku as his son descended towards the quickly moving Goten. He flew down faster flying parallel to the water before quickly going down and plucking his best friend out of the water, who came out rubbing his head with one hand as the other one protectively clutched the dragon ball to his side with big grin on his face.

"I got it." He mumbled, grimacing as he continued to rub at the big bump on his head. "Trunks, can you get into the dangerous situation with the next ball?" Trunks finally cracked a smile, nodding.

"You got it, buddy." He smiled. "Now lets go drop this treasure off and get the last ones!"

* * *

Thank you's:

* * *

**Luvrainluv:** and You made my day with that review, I burst out laughing in the middle of a restaurant. I'm so glad you like Josie's scenes! Its always VERY important for me to know what readers are currently enjoying most so I can hopefully keep doing it, so please always feel free to let me know what you're digging and want more of. Also, baam! look at this, it is, in fact, Sunday - as promised ;) and thank you for the well wishes! my trip was great!

**DreamAngel2713**: Haha, I still can't believe that you're jumping from the beginning of the story to where we currently are! and wow, thank you so much for the beautiful compliments!

**Thomas Drovin**: Exactly my thoughts too! never a smart thing to mess with the guy whose sole job is to decide where souls go! I'm so glad you're enjoying Val/Goten - I LOVE writing them together, they're so sweet and so much fun together. I also love that you've always told me what you want to happen in the story, I definitely hear you, sir! I can't make any promises but I'm always so thankful for your honesty!

**Buzzk97: **YOU are amazing, thank you so much! I think we'll continue to see how uncomfortable/how strongly certain characters react to these two girls and I've always thought of King Yemma as a grump so it was fun to do that lol. And yes! new character! we get to see a little more about him in this chapter, so hopefully that was cool and I'm right there with you, I love subtle moments with Vegeta showing he cares! No secret here, I'll definitely make sure we get some more Val/Goten before we reach the end.

**ImmatureChild:** Haha, you're so much fun! and Yes! Hopefully the next few chapters will be a little more exciting, I've mostly wanted to get some basic stuff established, get some unanswered questions answered! Hope you've been well!

**WolfstarXPiccolo:** Always my favorite reaction! thank you so much for that wonderful compliment, I'm glad you're here now and that you've enjoyed it! :D

* * *

**Note:** Thank you all so much for those lovely reviews. Any questions/requests/comments please feel free to write a review or send a PM! I love getting to hear your thoughts on the story-lines! thank you to all the new followers/those who've favorite'd the story too! The chapters will start picking up pace soon! more excitement, less filler, I promise!


	36. Chapter 36: The Other Boys

**Disclaimer**: You know what I wish I owned? my own personal masseuse.. that just sounds lovely.

**DWMW**

Revised

**Chapter 36**: The other Boys

"You want to find a specific Saiyan, in HFIL...when you have no idea where he is specifically at." Cerean summarized as two began walking away from the blood pond. Josie nodded.

"I figure if I'm going to be here I might as well see a few people, right?" She asked, glancing at the large man beside her.

"Its a ridiculous undertaking." He bluntly pointed out.

"Cerean, could I ask you something?" Josie asked, unfazed by the slightly mean remark.

"What?" He asked roughly, tired of talking.

"..." Josie continued to walk but stared off into the distance beyond Cerean. She lifted her hand up to point past him. "Why does hell have a ferris wheel?" Cerean gave the sight an uninterested quick look, not slowing a step.

"Park for tourists." He muttered.

"I'm a tourist," She remarked as shuffled forward to catch up, "Can we go there?"

"No." He said simply.

Josie shrugged, figuring as much, but frowned at his large strides. "Why are we walking so fast?" She asked, finally realizing he was walking with purpose.

He stopped and glared at her, tired of the incessant interrogation. He'd already been questioning his _own_ decision in taking this task from the moment the offer had come out of his traitorous mouth. Josie only tilted her head and smiled in response to his glare, which only annoyed him more. He shook his head, exhaling.

"I was away longer than I intended." He finally began. "And with you as my new assignment, I need to temporarily obtain a replacement guard for my prisoner." Josie 'ooh'ed.

"I'll need you to wait here." Josie's eyes widened at that request.

"What?" She asked, surprised. "I'm supposed to stay with you." She reminded, to which he nodded in agreement.

"I realize that, but this will only take a moment, are you _capable_ of not moving for just a few minutes?" Josie gave him a look.

"You've known me for two seconds, smart aleck." She reminded haughtily. He smiled.

"I think I have developed an understanding in those 'two seconds'" He replied easily, pointing to the very spot he was at, saying quite clearly - without any words - that she was to be exactly here when he returned. She saluted him silently and he rolled his eyes, lighting throwing up her wilson ball for her to catch. Josie did so easily with a smile, her smile beginning to drop as soon as he started to walk away, uncomfortable with the thought of being on her own down here.

She wrapped her hands around her upper arms, looking around at the gloomy scene. She didn't remember the red colors being so ominous when she watched the show before and she distinctly remembered a lot more green grass than what she was seeing now; except for a few patches of green, it all seemed to look so dead. Josie walked the small distance back to the blood lake and took a seat at a bench by the pond, watching the bubbling water with distaste, thankful that there was no odor emitting from the red waters. Her fingers felt carved letters on the seat next to her and she squinted to read it, tracing the words with her finger tips:

_**There's no escape**_

"That's cheerful." Josie wrinkled her nose and thoughtlessly crossing her legs at the knees, bringing out the ball so she could stare at it, thoughts distant. After a few minutes of silence Josie could hear a voice getting louder and looked to her left, seeing a troupe of spirits led by a small female ogre who was talking to them through a megaphone.

"_Now remember, you'll only be at HFIL park for thirty minutes! any longer and you __**will **__be left behind and fed to the ninth circle prisoners!" _The tour guide warned, waving her hands in the air for dramatic effect. "_Haha, little hell humor for you guys, ninth circle prisoners are encompassed in ice and can't hurt you._" Josie raised an eyebrow, smiling as the group walked towards her in an orderly fashion. She saw a little spirit in the back bouncing for attention as it struggled to catch up. "Yes?" The tour guide asked.

"Can we see the ninth circle?" Its high pitched voice inquired.

"That is a part of the VIP package, so unless you purchased that at the front desk you will not be getting to visit the ninth circle today. Any more questions?" Hearing and seeing no one stir, the smiling ogre nodded and continued to lead the tour group on towards the theme park.

"Lucky." Josie mumbled to herself, sighing. She'd briefly entertained the idea of tagging along but finally opted not too for two reasons: 1) she didn't exactly blend in with that crowd of dead and 2) Cerean needed to learn to trust her so he'd join her on her expedition to visit dead saiyans, and failing to do as he had requested right from the beginning would not go far towards instilling that sense of trust.

She looked at her pretend watch on her wrist and threw her ball into the air a few times as she whistled and waited. After a few minutes of playing quietly, her ball fell on the ground, rolling a few feet away towards the pond. She quickly got up but before she could make a move for it, the ball was scooped up by a pair of large hands.

Josie breathed a sigh of relief, straightening and offering a ready smile to Wilson's rescuer, but her face twisted when she saw Bozo the ogre standing before her, smirking.

"Well, well.." He former guard started cheerily, bouncing her ball in the air the same way that she had just been doing. "I can't say lie and say I'm surprised to you managed to talk Cerean into letting you out of your cage." Josie's eyes narrowed.

"He did his job." She snapped back, defensively. "King Yemma was the one who let me out." Bozo completely ignored what she said and only continued to bounce her ball. He looked at her, grinning wickedly, as threw the ball right over his shoulder and into the lake, making Josie gasp.

"Why-...you..." She could feel the vein in her temple throbbing harder and harder as she murderously glared at the overgrown ogre in front of her, her fists shaking from how hard they were clenched.

At that exact moment, Cerean came back, looking around angrily when he noticed she wasn't where she assured him she would be. He finally spotted her, along with her company and rolled his eyes, quickening his step towards them. He intervened just in time and put a hand to Josie's stomach to stop her onslaught, glaring at the ogre whose actual name Izno.

"I'm fairly confident I did not assign you to torment this particular prisoner." Cerean reminded through clenched teeth.

"Not a prisoner," Josie reminded. "Bodied soul now." Cerean turned his glare to her, annoyed at the semantics. Josie pointed back his attention angrily towards the ogre. "Focus! He threw Wilson into the blood pond! This stupid, disproportionate, ugly, red, one TINY horn lame excuse for an ogre-"

The muscles on Izno's arms twitched with anger, fists beginning to clench. Ogres were naturally strong, so Izno had no fear of most of HFIL's citizens but the fact that this girl had been condemned to the level of incarceration she had been sent too made him hesitate in attacking her; Not to mention the Saiyan standing between the two. "What? Yemma's butt got your tongue?" Josie's voice mocked, flipping him off.

That was it.

The ogre stepped towards her, uncaring at that moment about protocol, rank, or even the girl's possible strength. Josie quickly stepped back and Cerean put his arm towards her to keep her out of his reach and easily grabbed the incoming ogre by the scruff of his white shirt and threw him violently to the side; where Izno finally landed on a tree, bowing it out.

Cerean looked over his shoulder at Josie with disapproval. "I see protecting you is not going to be as easy as I thought it would be." Josie at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

...

A full twenty four hours had passed at Capsule Corp since the girls and Giru had come home and though the previous day they'd simply brought lunch to the girls rooms - Chichi now insisted they all come down for breakfast.

Pan and Videl served everyone breakfast, keeping the topics of conversation light and never once bringing up Namek.

"How about we-"

"Giru." Giru came straight up into the air. "Receiving a transmission from Namek. Giru." Bra's eyes widened and she immediately pushed back from her chair and ran out of the room and up the stairs, rushing towards the common area where the video communication had been set up. She quickly hit a few keys and turned on the monitor, waiting for the signal to turn on as the others started to come in to the room after her.

The monitor came to life and Bulma's face appeared on the screen, smiling at the sight of her youngest.

"Mom!" Bra cried out happily, tears pooling in her eyes. Bulma's brows drew down and her chin quivered for a moment at the obvious hurt in her child's eyes but she kept a strong face for her.

"Hi baby." She greeted gently. She glanced at the others behind Bra. "Hello everyone." She greeted. Valerie came to stand behind Bra, putting her hands behind her chair. "I don' t really have much to tell you, but I thought I'd give you all an update before we go completely offline."

"Why would you have to go offline?" Valerie asked, confused.

"We've got a lot of work to do out here. Most of the guys are out there searching for the dragon balls but-"

"The dragon balls you guys already had?" Valerie asked, frowning.

"Yeah." Bulma sighed, wishing desperately that she could reach across the screen and put an arm around both obviously stressed girls.

"We were hoping to find all the stolen dragon balls on the ship but I've been told that moments before his death, Babidi did a spell." She said with a frown. "He didn't say what he was doing...but I think we're piecing together that him scattering the dragon balls was his last ditch effort to stall us." Bulma explained. "Again, that's a theory, seeing as we have limited information about what happened before he died."

"But Josie was there in the room with him." Valerie stated more than asked, stomach nauseous. Bulma glanced at her daughter who was wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I think so." Bulma said quietly. Valerie's jaw clenched but she nodded, silently wrapping her arms around the youngest Briefs.

"What kind of time frame are you guys looking at, Bulma?" Videl interrupted from a few feet away.

Bulma's eyes looked past her girls and she seriously considered the question, "Well, we have at least three of the dragon balls right now. Goten, Trunks, Vegeta and Goku are working on retrieving the last of them. Gohan is helping with the restoration of destroyed towns, rescuing those imprisoned, and burying the dead; while Piccolo is with Elder Moori while the town figures out what they're going to do with the surviving Nameks who were taken over by Babidi."

"Some are still alive?" Chichi asked, surprised. Bulma nodded.

"Yeah, the way Babidi's power works is having any evil characteristic makes him able to take a person over. When Babidi's power source was destroyed those who he had under his control who did **not** resist or were remorseful after, were taken to Elder Moori for ruling."

"I hope they-"

"Shh." Valerie quieted Bra gently, sitting next to her and looking at Bulma for her to go ahead and continue.

"They've been a huge help in finding those still under ground." Bulma admitted with a sigh. "We're letting them deal with their punishment and focusing on getting Josie back as soon as possible and going home."

"Thank you for letting us know." Chichi said gratefully. "Please remind everyone to be careful, and to come back home soon." Bulma nodded.

"Will do, Chi." Chichi stepped forward and gently helped Bra to her feet. "Come-on, young lady, we've got get back to the food that's probably gotten cold by now. I know you Saiyans need your food...are you coming Valerie?" Chichi asked Valerie as she shooed the others out of the room.

"In just a minute, I'd like to talk to Bulma for a moment, if that's okay." Chichi smiled and nodded.

"I love you mom." Bra waved quietly, receiving a kiss blown back by her mother.

"I love you too, baby." Bulma said, heart lodged in her throat.

When everyone left but Valerie, Bulma turned to look at one of the girls she'd sworn to protect and keep safe while they were under her care and sighed, feeling like she'd failed.

"Valerie...I'm so sorry, sweetheart." Jaw tightening, Valerie shook her head.

"Not your fault." She managed to get out. "Do you uh.." She sniffled, wiping quickly at her eyes. "Do you know anything else about her?"

"..." Bulma hesitated, having been briefly told about Josie's current whereabouts, but not wanting to needlessly worry her. "I know Goku and Trunks have made contact with her in other world."

Valerie exhaled loudly, letting her head drop down into her hands, body sagging in her chair with overwhelming gratitude. "Thank God." She mumbled, shakily. "I t-thought..."

"I can't even imagine all the possibilities you had to be considering, sweetheart."

"But she's okay?"

"..." Again, she had a hard time answering this. "...She's being looked out for in other world." She finally said. "And I'm sure she's up to her mischief over there." She joked lightly, trying to cheer her up.

**...**

"Fall in line." Cerean demanded, having been right on Izno in three easy strides after the ogre had made impact; his forearm pushing in to the ogre's throat against the tree as the creature struggled to breathe.

"I-sorry." The creature sputtered out. Cerean studied him for a moment, before releasing the ogre and stepping back with a nod.

"Leave and do as you were commanded, this prisoner is now released to my custody and no longer any of your concern." Izno rubbed at his throat, angrily glaring at Josie but curtly gave Cerean a nod; beginning to leave when he saw Josie making a face at him and he felt his eyes go red, in a moment sanity left him and he rushed her. Her eyes widened in the brief seconds she had, screaming as she ducked down on the ground with her arms over her head.

Izno momentum made his large form stumble against the crouched small girl and fly face first into the hot blood pond. Nearly falling back with the force of the hit along with him, Cerean grabbed Josie, just in time, pulling her around the waist quickly away from the pond in one swift movement. Josie stared at the pond in horror, hands at her mouth.

"I didn't mean to do that!" She quickly shouted, appalled. "Is he...dead?" She asked, tentatively leaning towards the pond's bubbling surface. "I don't see him." She bit her lip nervously.

"He's fine." Cerean said, releasing her. "He has just temporarily lost his physical body. Once the spirit monitors catch the mistake, they'll give him his body back." He waved the concern off, beginning to walk away from the blood pond as if nothing had happened.

"But.." Josie hesitated, giving the pond one more brief look, before hastily following after her guard. "As long as you're sure." She mumbled, guiltily. He glanced at her after that last comment with curiosity but didn't say anything, leading them away. "Where are we going?" She asked, curiously as they walked in relative silence for a few minutes.

"Far away from any creatures that you can infuriate, and far from any blood ponds that you can throw them in." Josie grimaced, before realizing what he had just said meant no Saiyans. She quickly reached for his arm, thankful that he didn't react as harshly as he had before.

"Wait a second, I thought you agreed to take me to Bardock." She reminded, perplexed.

"I don't know who that is." He said with disinterest. "And I agreed to no such thing."

"Come-on Cerean! I thought we understood each other!" Cerean raised an eye brow. "...Fine, I don't know anything about you but I thought you got me!" She pleaded passionately. "I really want to do this and I thought you were on my side on this, lets change up your boring routine for just one day, what do you say?"

He looked at her for a minute, before he shook his head with a sigh and began to walk again, leaving Josie confused. "...Was that a yes or no?"

"Follow me and don't ask questions." He demanded. "You've requested to go into dangerous territory that I'm unfamiliar with," He explained, as she eagerly quickened her pace to catch up to his fast stride. "There's a couple things we need to get first if we were to go that way, and unfortunately, this is the direction that that is in." He said, gesturing towards the route they needed to take.

Unsure of why this route was an unfortunate one, Josie still opted to stay silent this time as he had requested, and continued to power walk to keep up.

...

After Valerie and Bulma had finished speaking, she'd surprised her by requesting to speak to Chichi one final time. Val went to go get her and politely left the room to give them privacy, going downstairs and silently eating with the others while Chichi finished up.

The rest of the day went by without much activity, Chichi had been busy on the phone for most of the afternoon while the rest of the girls remained in the living room and watched movies quietly.

The next day the routine started up again, they'd all finished eating breakfast together and Pan sat next to Bra who was staring to the side of the TV instead of at it, Chichi was knitting quietly and Valerie was on another couch scratching lightly at the chair she was in with a finger nail.

They heard a honk coming from outside and Chichi smiled, setting her things on the table beside her.

"Bra?" Chichi asked gently, as she got up and glanced out the window.

"Yes, Ms. Chichi?"

"Your friends are waiting for you outside, they're going to take you shopping for the day." Bra's mouth dropped open in surprise and as expected, she began to protest but Chichi would hear none of it. She patiently helped the girl up and shooed her out the front door and went back to take her seat.

"Pan," Chichi started as she began to pick up her equipment. "Would you be a dear and bring me a cup of tea? Valerie, would you like some?" Valerie shook her head, thanking them both. Pan nodded and easily headed off to kitchen where her mother was still cleaning up from breakfast.

"I know what you're feeling, believe it or not," Chichi said tenderly to Valerie who looked up from her mindless distraction. "Years and years of experience of staying behind will do that to a woman." Valerie nodded.

"Thank you, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Even so, i'm hoping you'll trust this old woman in her wisdom and experience, and do as I request, when I ask you to go to Mr. Satan's for another lesson." Valerie's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You heard me." Chichi said firmly. "I enjoyed our time together and I think you learned quite a bit from me and though I would not mind continuing to teach you later on, I do think Hercule is an easier Master." Valerie gulped and flushed in embarrassment. She was right, despite the fact that learning under Hercule had been humiliating, it hadn't been nearly as back breaking as kata's with Chichi that had left her bedridden. "Go change and have Pan drop you off. I think you can really use the distraction." She said with finality.

Valerie's mouth opened and closed, wanting to argue, truly wanting to desperately argue, and shout about how her friend was dead and she didn't feel like embarrassing herself in front of a man she had always considered to be weak and pathetic.

"I even made you an new uniform with Mr. Hercule's symbol in Japanese, now go on and get changed."

"Great." Valerie laughed weakly, getting up to go without argument, not having the energy for it. She went up the stairs and into her room and sure enough, there was her brand new outfit; sighing, she closed the door behind her.

...

After about a mile, Josie was exhausted, but she could see what he was talking about. The trek had become a lot uglier, and the occasional green tree, laughing spirits, ferris wheels and park benches were no where to be seen anymore; In there place was cracked webbing on the ground, ominous clouds and... howling. Josie scooted as close as possible to Cerean, who said nothing in response, only continued to walk towards the more and more visible even land that had creatures in cages all lined up with only guard walking down that aisle.

"Why are these cages near one another?" Josie asked Cerean quietly, uncomfortable at the looks and cat calls they were receiving.

"These prisoners are not considered a high a threat." Cerean answered simply, ignoring the prisoners and their guards as they walked right down the center of the cages, Josie plastered to Cerean's side.

One red skeletal like creature threw himself against the cage to reach for her and Josie stumbled into Cerean who easily caught her. "...Y-you mean to tell me, **I **was more threatening to Yemma than these things?" Josie asked in disbelief, as Cerean released her arm.

"Yes." He said easily, catching the eye of a guard and signaling to the prisoner. The guard nodded and went towards the cage as Cerean and Josie walked away, piking Josie's curiosity.

"Do they listen to you because you're the 'Guard Keep'?" Cerean simply kept walking until they were out of that area and headed upward on a slope. Josie glanced behind them towards the cages one more and jogged to catch up to the fast Cerean, grateful now for his fast pace, eager to get out of this creepy place. Once they reached the top, the small mountain opened into a clearing with a small home that would almost look normal, if it wasn't for the iron spiked trees a few feet from it. "Lovely." Josie said dryly, as they headed to the small house in the middle of no where.

"Is there where you live?" She asked as he went on in, with Josie waiting at the door. The inside was very bare looking, only a stove, fridge, bed in a corner with a small closet on the side. All in all the dark little place could be reached from side to side with her fingertips. Cerean wordlessly went to the closet, pulled out armor and a sheathed sword, making her immediately take a step back outside. "I'll just... wait out here." She cleared her throat and stepped back out, actively busied herself with looking around.

A few minutes later Cerean came out, studying her with a raised brow as she now studied a bladed tree with genuine curiosity. She felt eyes on her and turned to look at him and gestured up at the tree.

"Adds to the feel of the place, very homey." He ignored her, dumping the sword on the ground and putting the armor on.

Josie knew it was rude to stare but she couldn't help it, the armor he was putting on didn't look like any of the armor she'd previously seen Saiyans wearing. The body armor he was clipping into place on his torso went up to his neck with gold lining. This looked so much more intricately woven than the standard uniform Saiyans seemed to have. He caught her staring and threw a piece of armor at her and she grimaced with the weight of it.

"Put that on." He ordered.

He rolled his eyes as she struggled for the next 30 seconds to put the piece of equipment on and he quickly strolled to her and took them from to place over her head. He settled the equipment on her shoulders and Josie attempted to adjust her shoulders with the extra five to ten pounds on her shoulders.

They were shoulder pad like other than the fact that the edges didn't stick out the way they Vegeta's did but circled down to protect arm muscles that were not there. She raised her shoulders uncomfortably, annoyed. This extra piece of equipment obviously was only intended for someone much bigger than her, with biceps the size of a basketball.

"This makes it hard to move." She complained.

"Adjust quickly." He recommended simply, handing her his sword. At her questioning eyes, he simple nodded behind her. Josie turned slowly to look and the color drained from her face when she saw the red skeletal creature from before taking large strides on all fours to climb the small hill and get to her.

...

When Valerie was all changed and had given herself a pep talk about making Goten proud she went down the stair, where a smiling Pan and Giru were waiting.

"Heya." She greeted. "I heard I'm supposed to drop you off at gramps for another training session." Valerie nodded with a smile on her face, but she felt miserable inside. Before she knew it the two girls were off with Pan chatting away happily about how excited she was that everyone was coming home soon. Giru only flew between Valerie's arms and silently nudged her body to hold him as they flew; she silently did so, grateful for the small comfort, not at all blaming the excitable young girl who only knew her family was coming back unharmed.

"Well, here you are." Pan said, chipper. "I have to go meet mama or she'll come hunt me down in a few minutes." Valerie nodded, waving at both of them before entering the large estate, feet dragging. She walked the long distance to his front steps and sat herself down there, hoping that she would be able to get away with just sitting out here without Hercule noticing, knowing how much of a long shot it was since he'd been forewarned she'd be going.

About five minutes later she heard someone jogging her way from the right and turned her head to see Matt, Mr. Hercule's pupil who she had encountered in the mansions kitchen while she was trying to get a cup of coffee for him. He was the one who was married, she recalled as she looked down and saw the simple band on his ring finger when reached her. He smiled questioningly as he put his fists on his hips staring down at her with some confusion.

"Hey Val, what are you doing way over here? I thought you were supposed to be here for training today." He asked, somewhat confused.

"There's no point." Valerie explained with a sigh. "Chichi made me come- Pan's grandmother." She responded to the confusion he displayed at the name. Matt nodded and sat down beside her.

"Well... if its any consolation, Mr. Hercule isn't available today, he's doing press all day on some news station." Valerie did visibly cheer up at that, making him grin. "I can't believe he took in such a bratty pupil." He commented, grin still in place.

"I don't mean to be." Valerie said with. "I'm just... where I come from, he's not such a big deal." Matt looked at her with mild disbelief.

"I don't think a place like that exists on this planet." Valerie chuckled at that, nodding.

"Yeah... you're right about that, I guess." She mumbled, smiling at him. "So uh... what was I supposed to do then when I got here if Hercule isn't here." Matt stood up at that, smiling.

"MR. Hercule," He reminded. "Wanted me to be your teacher for the day, he uh... had some colorful language about you not being ready for a lesson of his caliber yet." Valerie snorted lightly, but nodded as she stood up. "Come-on," He encouraged, leading the way. "Let's start at the gym, we need to get that layer of fat off you."

"Layer of fat huh?" Valerie asked, eyes narrowed.

"Ooh yeah." Matt insisted. "I can show you?" He offered, preparing two fingers for pinching but she flipped him off, making him laugh. "Let's go newbie." He said in a friendly tone, wrapping a casual arm around her shoulder and leading her away.

...

"Nonono" Josie's eyes immediately went blind with panic, as she turned to Cerean, teeth chattering. "W-why are you-Y-you promised-YOU PROMISED!" Cerean simply studied her with curiosity for what felt like the longest moments of Josie's life.

When the snarling creature behind her lunged towards her back, in what felt like slow motion; Cerean pushed Josie behind him with one hand and without her knowing, took the sword from her hand and simply sliced through the creatures middle.

Josie struggled to catch her breath, as beads of perspiration formed on her face. Her face flushed she struggled desperately to take off the armor on her shoulders, pushing against it with her hands.

"Why won't this stupid-" She nearly screamed when Cerean's hands took her wrists to turn her towards him. Her eyes looked wild and he could feel her pulse beating erratically, but he ignored them and carefully took the armor off of her. A motion far too slow for Josie who pushed at it violently until she got it off, letting it land on the ground with a thump as she continued to try to catch her breath. "W-why...why would you do that?" She asked him, through gasps of air; betrayal and fear clear in her eyes.

"You want to go to where HFIL is inhabited by one of the most powerful races to have ever existed, and you can't even handle _that_?" He asked simply, gesturing to the fallen creature trying to prove a point, having known that she wouldn't have listened to reason alone. Josie looked at the sliced body for a moment before blanching.

Cerean stared at her, once more surprised by her attitude. "...You really don't belong here, do you?" He asked, mystified. She gave him a side eye, suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Lets not play games," He said with a sigh, throwing the sword to the side in annoyance. "I can send for another if you'd like to prove me wrong now." She shook her head immediately and straightened.

"No don't." She responded quickly.

"Tell me who you are." He requested simply, taking a seat where he was. Josie wrinkled her nose, unsure.

"I definitely can't talk to you about anything while..." She looked behind him and no longer saw the body of the creature and her eyes widened. "How did you.."

"No one dies in HFIL." He said waving that away. "Delay all you'd like, we are not going anywhere until you tell me why you are here."

Josie shook her head with a smile. Here she was, at what felt like the very beginning of when they came into this universe; being forced to explain who she was and where she came from, again.

But as she took a seat beside the muscular Saiyan, underneath a rough and spike filled tree on a mountain top, overlooking an empty terrain; of what she later found out was part of sector 3, she felt like she could tell this guy. What other options did she have anyway?

So she told him.

She told him about their arrival on the planet, she told him about the Prince of all Saiyans; she told him about the trip to Namek and what Babidi had done to her, she told him about her world and why Yemma was so uncomfortable with her and why he'd decided to lock her up the way he had.

At the end of her story, she would like to imagine that the sun would be setting on the landscape, but there was none of that here in HFIL. She smiled at the ground, tracing a figure eight on the soft ground below her.

"That's it." She said with a sigh, glancing at the tense man beside her. To his credit, he hadn't exploded at her, interrupted her with accusations and questions the way many others had. He had simply listened. "Any questions?" She offered with a smile.

He looked at her and slowly shook his head, staring back out.

"So can..." She pushed her hair back behind her ear, smiling, feeing a lot more lighter than she had for a while. "We maybe go see about those Saiyans? now that you understand my curiosity?" She asked tentatively, upon seeing his frown deepen she internally groaned, taking that for the no it obviously was.

"Did I not give my word to your colleague that I would not let you be harmed?" Josie rolled her eyes as she pulled up her knees to her chest.

"Yes." She mumbled. "But all that means is that you have to make sure no one hurts me where we are going." He gave her a look, as if to say, _'That's all huh?'_ "Look, I'm sorry you got sucked into this," She said turning her body to his. "But I honestly couldn't have found someone better suited TO do this with me than you." She pleaded, biting her lower lip nervously.

"Flattery will not sway me." He said simply. "How about you drop this ridiculous notion of yours and I do _you_ a favor instead." She raised an eye brow at that.

"I'm listening." She affirmed.

"I will teach you to fight..." He offered. "As much as can be possible for the level of weakness you've indicated." Josie narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're really enjoying knowing that I'm weak, huh?" a corner of Cerean's mouth lifted, as he stood back up.

"If that were true, I wouldn't be extending this offer, would I?" Josie eyed him suspiciously from the ground.

"So then why are you doing this?"

"I told you why. To make you forget about seeking out foes that can twist your neck off with two fingers," He said easily, but Josie couldn't help but think there was more to it than that.

"Uh huh." She clucked her tongue and he frowned at her in distaste, leaving to go back inside what Josie now deemed to be, '_The hut_'. He came out a few moments later with a bandana in one hand and a spandex suit in another.

_Wait. Spandex suit?!_

Josie immediately took a step back, laughing nervously. "I hope... you don't think that that's for me." He looked at the piece of cloth in his hand as he approached her and raised a brow.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, amused.

She shook her head reverently. "I don't do spandex, dude." He tilted his head, unaccustomed to the term.

"You'd rather mess up the only articles of clothing you own?" She nodded quickly.

"Yes, yes I would." He chuckled and discarded the suit to the side.

"Suit yourself, but when your current attire is torn to shreds, you'll need to change into the garments then." She sweat dropped when confronted with his logic.

He was right, either she wore it now and needed to change into that when her clothes were unusable OR she wore them now and changed into what she was wearing now when she was done. She looked down at her current attire with distaste. She was wearing a wife beater and medical scrubs, the same ones she was wearing when she'd exploded into a million pieces.

"Fine, I'll change now." She said quickly, rushing to him, picking up the discarded outfit and rushing into the hut, amusing the tall Saiyan she left behind to no end.

After a few minutes of Josie's audible curses, Cerean knocked on the door. "You're wasting day time."

"_What friggin daytime?! there is no day and night here!_" She shouted back through the door, angrily. He shook his head, unable to help but chuckle at this girls easily roused temper.

"Regardless. You are wasting _my_ time, now, come-out." Josie groaned from the other side, forehead pressed against the wooden door, wondering how her life got to this absurd point where she was arguing across a door with a full blooded Saiyan she'd never heard of before. Was this Karma? having someone bully her the way she bullied Val? Did she really do this Val _all_ the time? Even if she did, circumstances were different! she thought defiantly, Valerie wasn't in this universe's version of hell with an unfamiliar Saiyan demanding she come out in **spandex** ready to fight him.

Her shoulders shook with silent laughter at how silly it was. "I hope you know, you're not my favorite Saiyan at this present moment." She could hear Cerean snort on the other side.

"_I've never encountered another human being in my entire existence and I __**still **__can easily assure you, that you are my least favorite one." _Josie laughed out loud at that.

"Do one thing for me, Cerean and I'll come out." Josie asked with a grin when he growled from the other side.

"_You mean other than personally swear to guard you against any attacks until your people wish you back AND other than offer to train you?_" He asked through obviously clenched teeth.

"Yes." She responded, still grinning.

"...After that you will come out?" She responded an affirmative. "Fine." She could practically picture him crossing his arms.

"Tell me how old you are." She asked curiously, leaning against the door, biting her thumb nail lightly. He didn't respond for a few seconds, and for a moment she was afraid he wouldn't respond at all.

"_I don't remember_." He said with a sigh, irritated with the ridiculous question she'd chosen to ask. Josie repeated his answer with disbelief.

"How do you** not **remember how old you are?"

"_If you haven't noticed already, time has no meaning in HFIL_." He responded, and she nodded, knowing that that was true.

"Well...do you remember what year you were born?" She asked curiously.

"..._Seven hundred's._" He answered with rising irritation. "_Why is this relevant?_"

"I know nothing about you, Cerean!" She argued. "I just want to get to know you a little too." She scoured the room for a pen and paper.

He could hear the shuffling from the other side of the room and grew suspicious. "I'm coming in." He warned.

"_No! wait!_" He drummed his fingers impatiently on his arms, as he waited on the other side of the door while she mumbled to herself inside. "_Was it exactly the year 700?_" She asked from the other side.

"...715." He finally answered after a minute. He could hear her gasp and laugh a minute later and with disgust he pushed away from the door, once more regretting ever having gotten himself involved in this entire situation. He was already bound to get chewed out for letting an ogre fight with the strange creature before him and end up as a spirit in another level of hell.

During his internal rant he failed to hear the noise of the door opening slightly and Josie peeking her head out, curiously.

"Ahem." He looked over, glaring at her suspiciously, as her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"What?"

"I think you're like seventy, dude." She giggled, handing him a piece the piece of paper where she had done the math.

"No, I'm not." He argued impulsively, as he ripped it out of her hand impatiently and stepped away to scan through the numbers, frowning.

"I'm pretty sure I'm only two to three years off, at most." She insisted from behind him, grinning. He glanced at her angrily, but stopped when he realized she was unintentionally out of the room and he turned to fully look at her.

Josie's grin immediately dropped when she realized it too and cursed, making a dash for the door; but having it closed easily with a hand before she could get to it. Cerean leaned his shoulder on it and easily crossed his arms.

"A promise is a promise." He reminded, smirking when she crossed her arms and looked away, her cheeks flushed. He'd made sure to give her spandex that went from beneath her collar bone to her ankles; so as far as he knew, she had no reason to complain; Granted, this suit had no sleeves but he'd done the best he could to give her something modest. She noticed him assessing her suit and she growled.

"Will you stop staring, seventy year old?!" Cerean's eyes lazily came back to hers and his only response was a lift at the corner of his mouth, making her roll her eyes.

"Wasn't seventy when I died." He reminded easily, as he marched off towards the clearing to set up.

Josie took a deep breath and exhaled strongly, willing the blush away from her face, knowing that he was right. She had done _that_ particular math too. She shook her head, amusement teetering at the edges of her mind, as she wondered how the heck she was going to get through this when an overly confident twenty two year old Saiyan was her sole guardian in other world.

* * *

Thank you's

* * *

**Thomas Drovin:** Haha, I'm enjoying Trunks annoyed reaction to Cerean's presence and to be honest, I'm enjoying Cerean's different nature too but I'm eager to get the whole crew reunited soon so that'll happen in a few here!

**Evalyd Yamazaki:** You have the silly teenage girl down to a tee, it really is all in her mouth lol. I'm glad you enjoyed the filler, I always kind of enjoy it too ^_^ and who knows, maybe one day she'll learn not to piss off stronger people...oh who am I kidding

**GVLuver**: Yay! I've been wondering where you've been, I'm so glad you enjoyed that! I loved, loved, loved that part too. Definitely my favorite of that chapter: having a sweet tender moment between Val and Goten and so abruptly go to a royally pissed off Josie in HFIL X)

**Explorer girl in training:** I love your name! and yes! so glad you're enjoying her adventures! This is exactly the way I think of Josie too! which makes me love them both so much, my one girl is just so head strong and always getting herself into trouble (But equally, interesting stuff happens to her because of it) and I have my lovely, smart, and reliable best friend Valerie who is just so much healthier and... wiser lol.

**ImmatureChild:** Ha! Let me go ahead and finish that, she's a - oh wait, lets talk about Bardock, yes! I'm going to have sooo much fun with that, I hope you will too! As for Cerean, you saw a lot more of him in this chapter but it won't be the end of him, I promise :) I like him too.

**GirXzimXfanatic: **I hope everything has been going well with the move! try to get some rest, I know how exhausting that whole process can be... as for the story, I'll admit, you are right. I can feel we're approaching that point too! Still a lot of surprises and things to make us cheer before then though ;) Just you wait.

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**Note**: This chapter was really long, but not quite moving a lot of plot forward, I still enjoyed it though because we got to know Cerean a little more and we got to see Matt again! Hope you guys enjoyed it too!

Next chapter is called: "**On the Wrong Side"** ;) Update will hopefully happen in a week!


	37. Chapter 37: On the Wrong Side

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing from the anime or manga! but I own my utter adoration of you guys for all the support and reviews you've generously thrown my way, thank you all!

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**Note**: I was going to wait till the weekend to post this, but you guys gave me 10 reviews. **10!**Some with constructive criticism, some with support, and some with their favorite parts. I thank you all wholeheartedly and want to tell you guys, that sharing your thoughts with me in** reviews WILL always mean faster updates.**

As proven below ;) I hope you guys enjoy this mid week surprise!

* * *

**Dude Where's my World**

Revised

**Chapter 37:** On the wrong side

"Okay, twenty two year old," Josie finally acknowledge as she followed after Cerean into the clearing, ignoring his gaze as she came out. "If we're going to be friends, I'm going to need more about you other than just your name and age."

"No" He said simply, circling around her once, and studying her body. She tensed and he shook his head. "Relax, I'm just looking at your form." He said dismissively.

"Yeah, that's what all the guys say..." She muttered, embarrassed. He glanced up at her, amusement on his face.

"When I'm looking at you in any other light, you'll know." Josie gulped and turned a brighter shade of red, wondering what the hell she was supposed to make of_ that_.

"I'm only sixteen, you know." She quickly informed, making him chuckle.

"Should that mean something to me?" He asked, as he crouched fully and gently put a little pressure behind her knees to unlock them.

"I d-don't know- I'm not trying to make any assumptions here, Cerean but-"

"You talk far too much." He cut off, frowning as she locked her knees again. "Do you realize how easily I could break your knee caps with just ounces of pressure?" He asked disapprovingly, as he softly demonstrated by putting just a fraction of pressure with his open palm on her knee making her cringe, uncomfortable with the pressure. He nodded at her expression. "Yeah, try this." He eased off the pressure and pulled her thigh down just a fraction so that her knees bended just a little. "How does that feel?"

"Weird." She said. "I feel like i'm getting ready to squat."

"You're just not used to standing right." He said, exhaling as he sat back on his haunches. "Here I am thinking you need lessons in defense when you don't even know how to stand properly," He said with amusement. He ignored her glare and leaned forward again, grazed her thigh with his index finger. "You feel how that's tightened right now?"

"Yes." She muttered.

"You're putting the weight of your body now on your muscles instead of your knee joints. You'll thank me for that later and watch this," He pushed on her knees once more but her knees resisted. "See?" She smiled at that, nodding. He clapped his hands free of dirt and stood back up.

"Still, against an opponent-"

"I know." She said dully. Cerean eyes watched her carefully, noticing her demeanor beginning to change and her eyes take on a far away look, and his eyes narrowed knowing that he didn't approve of wherever her mind kept going.

"Let's take it slow." He continued, circling to stand right behind her and putting a hand on her hip, making her yelp in surprise but quickly seeing it had the desired effect, she was back. He smirked at her outrage and put his hands up.

"Its was the easiest way to show you what I needed you to do, but okay, have it your way." He dropped down into a stance and explained carefully what he needed her to do.

...

"This is kind of silly, mom." Trunks sighed as his mom followed him into his room with her arms crossed.

"I know, baby." She didn't argue but kept her eyes glued firmly to his back.

"You watched me eat, are you going to watch me shower too?" She shook her head, smiling.

"No but I am making sure that you do that and don't sneak off to keep looking. You're the only person on this space ship that has not at least taken a cat nap since everything happened and I don't remember when I last saw you eat and shower so," She shrugged. "Here I am."

He looked mildly annoyed as he silently recovered towels and a fresh pair of clothing, knowing underneath the pride that she was right, but he couldn't help it, he just felt so guilty. Bulma sat on his bed watching him retrieve what he needed.

"Tell me more about this guy you saw with Josie." She requested, almost wishing she hadn't brought it up by how tense he got.

"He's a Saiyan, mom!" He whirled around angrily. "Of ALL the stupid things Josie has gotten herself into, I think this could possibly be the stupidest." Bulma smiled at that, thankful to hear of Josie still getting herself into antics, even if it was in other world. She missed her rebellious girl so much.

"Was he cute?" She asked teasingly but the look he gave her told her it was not funny. He loudly closed the door to the bathroom after himself and Goten peeked his head into their bedroom, confused.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

Bulma shook her head, smiling as she thoughtlessly picked lint off her sons bed. She couldn't believe it. Her son was jealous. She finally answered him, "Yeah, Goten. Everything is going to be okay." Goten still looked a little confused, but nodded.

"Good..." He said, scratching his head. "I'm going to go give Val a quick-" Bulma shook her head.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, kiddo but Gohan could really use your help a couple 200 miles from here North East, I was going to send Trunks after his shower if no one else showed up." Goten nodded.

"That's fine, try to get him to go to sleep soon, yeah?" Bulma nodded.

"Of course, sweetheart. Thank you."

...

"You ever boxed before?" Matt asked Valerie as he stood behind a punching bag, studying her form with a smile.

"Yes," Valerie answered wiping the sweat off her brow quickly and getting back to hitting the bag. "My dad used to box, he taught me." Matt nodded.

"Its the only thing you've done decently all day." Valerie stopped what she was doing and glared at him, raising a glove up hand. He arched a brow at that, wondering if he should be offended by the display of the glove.

"I'm trying really hard to flip you off under here." She explained, making him laugh.

"Alright, firebird. What do you say we take a break?"

"A break?" She asked incredulously. "You've had me working every machine in here for the last three hours, what's say we call it a **day**?" She suggested angrily.

"We could," He acquiesced. "But... you're so easily scared off from this place, I don't think you'll come back, so I have to do as much as I can for you while you are here, because man, you can use it."

"You're such a jacka-"

"Woah, woah, little lady, no need for that." He laughed, waving her out of the room after him. "Maybe we should get you a snack." He said over his shoulder. "Are you in need of chocolate? I hear girls like that."

_Smack!_

"Alright, I deserved that." He said lightly down the corridor. "Your aiming is getting better by the way, good job." He laughed.

"Oh yeah?" Valerie asked, the grin in her voice obvious. "That one felt better, thanks."

"No problem."

"...Jackass."

...

Cerean noted a while back that she did okay with touching when she knew he was going to do it but as soon as she didn't see him coming, she would freak out. He found that that was truly a pity because he was pretty confident that her technique would be better if she simply relaxed and closed her eyes.

He sighed and uncrossed his arms, untucking a bandana out from his breast pocket knowing that they were at least going to have to try. She eyed it warily.

"What's that for?" She asked, unhappily.

"Turn around." Her eyes narrowed, and he rolled his. "If I'm going to teach you anything you're going to have to learn to relax a little around me."

"I don't know you." It was his turn to eye her wearily, hearing the words between the lines.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, jaw flexing, along with his patience. She smiled carefully, pondering the question.

"Tell me what you remember from when you were alive." She requested. He exhaled, very definitely annoyed now, and signaled with an index finger for her to turn around. She did so quietly, tensing only slightly when he covered her eyes with the bandana and carefully tied it behind her head.

"I was what most worlds know as a centurion." Her head tilted curiously at that but remained silent. "Born one, most of the members of my family commanded large armies that lead military attacks against other planets."

"So you were part of the royal guard? an elite?"

"No, not quite," He continued. "My brother was, and so was my father but I was on a station planet where I ran an operation of seventy soldiers, in charge of keeping prisoners of war."

She was kind of curious of why he hadn't gotten to do what was likely a highly esteemed position, like the rest of the family, but thought it was likely best not to ask that particular question. "...So you did then what you kinda do now?" He thought it over, and shrugged.

"Yes. It's why King Yemma offered me the position. My history of violence - although existent - isn't as fatal as many others were." He said with distaste, hating to talk about something as insignificant as the past.

"So you weren't on your home planet a lot?" Josie asked hearing an affirmation. "That explains why you're not like most Saiyans I've seen."

"Quiet. Just like I taught you now..." He mumbled quietly as he approached her with his arms outstretched towards her throat. Josie quickly pitched both hands up, effectively blocking his grab and with the motion his arms were pushed apart; exposing his entire body, using the momentum of her already circling arms, she forcefully pushed his solar plexus, pushing him back a step.

She quickly took off her bandana, studying him for any damage and found him rubbing his solar plexus with a smile.

"That was good, not where I told you to hit me, but still, better." She smiled and let him put the bandana back on.

"You're letting fear, intimidation, and self doubt make you hesitate, so I am taking away the number one contributor of those fatal weaknesses. Your eyes." He explained by her shoulder, patiently. "Stop second guessing yourself." He turned her body carefully to face him. "Your body wants to do certain things, you just have to let it do it," He instructed. "Let it guide your next move and **use** my movement against me." He could see the question forming on her lips and he slowly moved his left fist towards her face, grabbing her left and having her feel his arm.

"Feel that momentum, where I'm going?" He asked, seeing a slow nod as she quietly bit her lower lip in focus. "Now all you need, is to shift my flow just a little tiny bit.." He did it for her. "See? Guess what? now I'm not only not going to hit my target but you've got my strength and momentum to manipulate me with. What feels natural here?" She carefully did it. "You're over thinking it. Your body." He corrected. "What it your body wanting to do?" She tugged him with the hand that had his arm secured and pushed his elbow up, making him stand on on the tips of his toes uncomfortably. He grinned.

"Good girl." He commended, satisfied. "Imagine all the things you could do to me while you have me like this," Josie ripped off the bandana and gave him a look, letting him go and taking a seat on the ground to catch her breath. They had been at this for a while.

"I think you fight better with your eyes closed." He said, taking a seat next to her.

"That's... definitely what every fighter likes to hear." She said sarcastically, he chuckled.

"You have aspirations of being a fighter?" She considered the question seriously and finally shook her head.

"Not really, no... but I do get myself in dangerous situations, what feels like a lot." She frowned. "Never really took the danger part too seriously until.." She gestured to their surroundings. "The dying and all but, I guess I'm starting to realize I should learn to defend myself because... I can't always rely on others to protect me." He nodded. Josie looked over at him, dropping the blind fold on his lap.

"Did you have a girlfriend in your world?" She asked conversationally. "...A mate." She rephrased when his expression indicated he had no idea what she was talking about. "Oh come-on, don't be such a prude." She laughed at his clearly offended expression. "I'm only asking because that seems to be the one part of your alive life you never mentioned."

"Did you consider the possibility that may have been for a reason?" Josie grinned at that, so there _was_ something there. "Do _you_?" He asked back, annoyed.

"No." She said easily, grinning. "Your turn."

"Not even the Prince's son?" Josie raised an eyebrow at that.

"What would make you ask a question like that - and the answer is no." Cerean shrugged, noncommittally.

"He gave me a look that means the same thing now that it meant fifty years ago."

"And what look was that?" Josie asked, her chin on her fist, feeling entertained by this conversation.

Cerean looked at her with a similar expression of amusement, did she really not know?

Apparently not.

"Mine." He said simply, standing up and heading to the hut to clean up. Josie stared after him in disbelief. That was a pretty big leap for him to make based off of one look...

She shook her head frowning, following after him. "You don't know him at all," She defended. "He's protective, that's different." She argued.

"Is he?" Cerean asked with disinterest as they both went into the hut where he opened his fridge.

"Yes" She insisted. "All Saiyans have that territorial thing, I guess...but I can tell you it has nothing to do with romance." Cerean snorted at the foolish word, as he took out a beer and drank eagerly from it. Josie watched him, impatiently, wanting to get back to the topic at hand.

"And what about you?" She asked, when he made no more ridiculous remarks about Trunks behavior. "You didn't tell me if you had anyone." She reminded.

"Yes." He finally answered, giving her a look that told her to drop it. Josie watched him grab another beer with mild interest, wishing he'd say more. Cerean glanced at her and rolled his eyes, as he opened the can - not surprised at all that she was persisting. "Her name was Vera. She was an elite soldier." He finally added, taking a drink.

"Higher rank than you?" He nodded. "Impressive."

"Arrangement." He assured. "The day the planet exploded was the day that I was picking her up to take her with me... or the other way around. Who knows now." He asked rhetorically.

"Did you like her?" Josie asked, as he finished off his can. Did this man never hear of water? Guess proper hydration really didn't matter down here anyway.

"She was far more violent than I ever was going to be, but that had its...appeal." Josie snorted at that, making him chuckle.

"Dark strong hair, like yours, big brown eyes, like yours." Josie's eyes widened at that. "Don't worry, your similarities end there." He assured. "She was much more violent than you are."

She didn't exactly sound like a peach, but he did seem to have liked her. "And you didn't get a chance to be with her?" Josie asked, feeling somewhat bad for the guy.

"Not a day." He agreed, sounding untroubled by it, as he offered her a drink.

"No thanks." She declined politely, taking it from him and putting it back in the fridge. "Where is she now?" Josie asked, curiously, closing the fridge door, imagining true love ripped away by fate. Cerean sighed, not with remembrance but with exasperation at the incessant questions.

"She died along with everyone else...but where she literally is," He thought it over before shrugging. "Probably along with most of the other Saiyans. I doubt any of them got to keep their bodies." Josie frowned at that.

"Villains get to keep their bodies, why wouldn't they?" Cerean shrugged as he took a seat on his bed.

"I don't know." He said with an exhale. "But I'm the only Saiyan I know of here who has his body." Josie's frown deepened.

"That has to be a mistake.." She mumbled to herself, but then when she thought about it, she did remember Vegeta at some point while dead not getting to keep his body. He'd been a spirit.

"When you frown like that you almost do look Saiyan," Cerean commented. "You're only missing the tail." Josie distractedly moved her hair to the side, going outside for a few minutes to think.

She only remembered the scene briefly where Vegeta had faded into a spirit but the thought of it made her stomach clench. Why had Vegeta been made into a ghost after everything he had done for planet earth? was it all the lives he took all those years ago? Was there a scale here weighing the good versus the evil? or was there no point? no matter how much evil you did, you couldn't ever outdo it with good in this realm? Or was it based on intentions too? because of the fact that most of the good Vegeta had done had not always been due to good desires but for a need to better himself for the eventual take down of Goku. She shook her head in strong denial, regardless of what had happened between her and her idol, he deserved a chance; especially If Cell, if Freeza, if **BABIDI** got to keep his disgusting little..

Josie screamed when Cerean put a hand on her shoulder, turning into a stance, chest heaving. Cerean rubbed an ear, annoyed.

"That was nearly better."

Nearly an hour later, Cerean made Josie rest on the bed while he uncomfortably laid on the ground. Though the lights never dimmed in HFIL, most creatures here still needed to get some form of rest. Josie sat on Cerean's bed, studying the sleeping Saiyan. She almost felt bad for this but she knew that despite all he'd insinuated about considering the idea, he would never take her somewhere dangerous after the promise he'd made Goku.

She smiled, putting up her hair in a pony tail and grabbing his sword at the edge of her bed she opened the partially open small window above his bed. He probably thought that she wouldn't fit through there, but little did he know that Josie was an expert at climbing through small little windows...as long as no vases were involved. She grinned as she straddled the window, giving the Saiyan one last glance, feeling a little guilty but knowing his promise would be just fine; as he'd pointed out earlier, people don't die in HFIL. She just wanted to see Bardock, just one time and find out what the hell had happened to the Saiyan race in HFIL. Then she'd come back.

As quietly as possible she jumped down and closed the window after herself, wrapping the sword and belt across her body. She studied the vista for a second, hesitating. She could go back, she _should_ go back because no matter what she was telling herself, she didn't want to disappoint her new friend. She looked back at the hut, frowning.

She shook her head and marched quickly away from the little place with determination in the opposite direction of where they had come in from. She went down the little mountain through a rocky and narrow path, and from what she could see ahead, nothing good and pretty awaited her. The area she was going to be heading into was covered with dark sharp trees and dangerous looking cliffs and dozens of scattered large mountains throughout the area; but she didn't let that deter her; If there were any threats in this direction, equally large security measures had to be put in place, right?

_Hopefully_

Nervously laughing she continued on, building a layer of sweat over the next hour as she trekked through the murky paths covered by spiky bushes as tall as her head, finding occasional clearings with signs saying something in Japanese.

"Fantastic." She thought aloud with annoyance, unable to read that, as she wiped the sweat off her brow and looked back up in the direction she had come from. She could no longer see Cerean's hut from where she was standing but that didn't exactly mean anything. She continued forward, figuring Cerean would be after her like a bat out of hell if he had already figured out she was gone, so chances were he was still resting. Good, she thought with a smile as she flinched when a branch smacked her in the face, waving it off impatiently. She'd be back soon, she promised, she just needed to see one.

Another hour of walking produced little more than a few open dark caves, and she sped up, mumbling, "No thank you..." She sped up, jumping when she heard the squawk of a crow. "Stupid bird!"

"Now if you'll please step carefully around this dangerous needle filled bush - whose needle pricks can make you wish for a second death - we'll continue onto skull valley!" Josie startled, looking to her right where, sure enough, back came the small female ogre tour guide from before with her overly enthusiastic voice and megaphone; leading a smaller group of spirits.

"I'd like to thank you once again for selecting the VIP tour package for your visit with us in HFIL, please be sure to fill out the survey at the end of your stay and tell us how we did!" Josie couldn't help but grin as she rolled her eyes, as the excited group went happily past her up on a trail to the right up the mountain she was going.

After careful consideration, Josie opted to go the left route, able to see far up enough to know they'd eventually end up in the same place, without having to hear the overly happy banter of a tour guide. Over the next two hours, Josie's heart rate never seemed to slow down with the straining exercise, as well as every unavoidably frightening steep cliff, skeletal remain, or sharp edge that she came across.

She shook her head, "I'm an idiot, I'm not a friggin hiker...packing even a water would have been so..." Hearing voices, Josie tilted her head, able to see the tour group coming in her direction far off in the distance. She smiled, briefly wondering if they might have some water with them, or food, or a donkey to ride on...

_Do spirits like water? _

Josie's eyes widened as she flew straight to the ground at - what was now - the unmistakeable sound of a fist making contact with skin. Her mind went into a frenzy as she heard the followed noises of pain and groans from somewhere to her left, beyond the large rocks. Her heart erratically beat in her chest, as her eyes wildly looked at the rocks to her side, thankful that there was sufficient covering to hide her from whoever was hurting someone. Flinching at the next sound of contact, she carefully pushed herself slightly up, in an attempt to take a look. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but one of the voices sounded angry. Josie carefully raised her head, just enough so that her eyes could see. There was a small valley below, that much she could make out.

She got up a little higher and squinted for a few seconds. "Holy crap." She immediately ducked down when the faces turned in her direction, closing her eyes tightly with a groan. Below were caves with cell bars beneath a scary looking mountain that had the shape of a skull. Unfortunately it wasn't so much the cave that scared her as much as the two villains in front of it.

Freeza and Cell.

_Really_? Josie asked herself mentally. _Hasn't Goku beat them up in Hell enough times already_? _how do these idiots keep getting out?_! She heard a gasp come from the other side and mentally cursed when she caught sight of the tour group who'd stopped, in clear view of the two. Josie instantly raised her finger to her lips to indicate they should be quiet and the frightened tour guide didn't see it, wide eyes stuck on the two escaped prisoners. Josie rapped the hard ground as quietly as possible, persistently, until she got the tour guides attention. She once more gestured for her to be quiet and gestured both hands down, signaling them to their knees. The tour guide swallowed fearfully, but with one more look to the still distracted villains, she did as Josie said.

"Be. Quiet." Josie mouthed to her, receiving a shaky nod. Heart now thumping wildly in her ears, Josie and the others recoiled when they heard another explosive blow; that was followed by the groan of pain. The person went flying through the air, landing a few feet away from her. Josie stared at the beaten ogre in fear, terrified that they'd come over here to finish him off. The whimpering tour guide huddled close together with her spirit tourists and Josie continued to desperately gesture for quiet, attempting to keep an ear out for Freeza and Cell.

She wasn't a complete idiot. Her curiosity to see these guys up close would **not** lead her to expose herself with no one strong around to defend her. Besides, she thought, as she looked between the unconscious ogre and the frightened tour group; there were others to consider. Hearing Cell and Freeza laughing to themselves as their animated voices talked about their plans, Josie quickly slid firmly towards the ogre, checking for a pulse. Though Ogres were guards of the other world, she knew they were living beings - with a crappy job, for sure, but living. Breathing a small sigh of relief when she found one she attempted to drag him, to no avail.

Seeing her struggle, the tour group female ogre quickly scrambled to them, taking a hold of his other arm.

"What's happening?" She quietly cried to Josie who gave her arm a quick squeeze of comfort.

"I don't know, but we need to get everyone away." Nodding, the female ogre helped Josie drag the ogre towards the tour group as the unconscious ogre began to stir awake, groaning in obvious pain. Josie immediately covered his mouth with her other hand, glancing at the duo who were still otherwise distracted. Once out of view, they rested the ogre against a rock, talking amongst themselves.

"What are we going to do?" The tour guide asked, wringing her hands.

"You're the guard there?" Josie asked the pained blue ogre. He nodded. "Bad news: Mr. Guard, prisoners busted out. What's plan B?"

"P-panic button." He mumbled amidst a small groan, pointing a shaking finger towards where Freeza and Cell were. Josie looked in that direction and her face fell, she could see it, it was right in between the cells on the side of a rock formation right at the center.

Right where the two were at.

She turned back to the blue ogre with a pained expression. "...is there by chance a plan C?" She asked hopefully. He gave her a look and she quietly groaned, figuring as much. What had she been thinking in coming out here thinking that proper security measures would be set up in this universe's version of hell, King Yemma, the big red oaf ran it, for crying out loud. She shook her head, looking off to the side, at nothing in particular, as she tried to think of something. The whimpering noises of the gentle body less spirits immediately caught her attention and she felt her heart rip a little. She pointed a finger at them.

"We have to get them out of here first." She said finally. "C-can you walk?" She asked quietly of the blue ogre who attempted to stand with their help, but stumbled back to the ground, shaking his head with dread. Josie's expression grew distressed.

"You'll have to do it." She said to the tour guide, miserably. "Someone has to get the spirits to safety and call for help. I can do it," She explained. "But.." She looked back at Freeza and Cell with a grimace, hating what she was about to say. "But I know them." She admitted. "And I can't beat them, but maybe I can stall them if they find us, but you on the other hand, will probably just.." She gestured towards the blue ogre as an example of what could happen to her. Eyes widening, the tour guide nodded furiously, beginning to urge the spirits in the direction they came from in hushed tones.

"Wait." Josie called as quietly as she could, body bent out of view she followed the tour guide. "Ask for..." She hesitated, trying to remember who was currently dead, and would be able to handle these two guys.

"Pikkon!" She whispered fiercely, eyes widening. "Pikkon needs to come down here right away."

"Who is-"

"They'll know," Josie cut off. "Now go, fast!" With that final instruction the female ogre rushed the spirits out of there, leaving Josie and the blue ogre to their fate. Josie sat beside the blue ogre, closing her eyes as she tried to keep herself calm and thinking clearly, as panic tried to seize her.

"What's your name." She asked quietly, eyes closed.

"Blue." Josie glanced at him briefly after that.

"Blue?" She asked incredulously, "That's your name." He shrugged. Guess that wasn't the weirdest name she'd heard in any case, Josie thought with a small humorless smile. She took a few quiet slow and deep breaths. "How'd they get out?"

"I'm sure they have outside help." The ogre coughed. "Their cages were already broken when I got in to start my shift." Josie nodded, remaining quiet. "..." Bleeding at the corner of his mouth, the ogre named Blue smiled faintly, a tinge of sadness in his voice. "She'll never get to help in time before they catch us, our only chance was the panic button." Josie didn't say anything to that either, leaning her head back and knowing he was right.

What else could they do though?

"Just... stay quiet, I-I'll think of something." Josie promised, eyes shut tightly, frown permanently etched on her face, as she tried to think of how much better off she would have been, had she not ventured out. Story of her life though, wasn't it? getting herself in trouble time and time again in the world, no matter which one she was in. She let her head fall, to the side swallowing with difficulty, as she worriedly watched the struggling ogre try in vain to stay conscious.

But then, she thought, she wouldn't be with him right now. She reached out and rubbed his arm, sympathetically. "I'm sorry you're in pain." She mumbled quietly, sincerity and worry in her voice. He looked at her tiredly, and smiled. And just like that, once more, she was reassured she'd done the right thing by staying behind.

Just like with Puchi.

She flinched visibly at the abrupt thought of Namek and stood up instinctively, just as Freeza and Cell phased in front of them, smirking.

"Well, well...I thought I heard insects crawling earlier, look at what we've found, Cell." Freeza crooned excitedly.

"Indeed." Cell affirmed with a grin, crossing his arms.

Acting without thinking, Josie unsheathed her sword and turned her back on the duo, quickly slicing Blue and dropping him to the ground on his stomach, a small pool of blood spreading by his face that lay atop his arm. She turned to the two, sheathing her sword again, frowning at them with as if THEY were insects, in her way, and calmly went past them. She went down the manipulated steps that led directly into the valley between the cells.

Cell and Freeza gave each other a look of surprise and ever so slowly followed after her, curious.

Blue was okay, she knew Blue was just fine, but she still felt terrible. She had cut his arm, a purely superficial cut just to produce blood; When she'd thrown him on his stomach, his arm was right underneath his neck, giving the impression that she had sliced his neck.

Jaw tightly, Josie yelled at herself to remain calm, fists clenching at her sides and body rigid with fear as she could hear the loud steps of the two powerful beings that followed her. "And who, may I ask, are you." Cell asked, obviously intrigued.

Josie shot him a contemptuous look back and silently continued towards the center rock formation where the small panic button was begging to be pressed.

"I'm none of your concern." She said rudely, actually grateful now to be wearing the dark spandex, thinking it made her look a lot more badass than she normally looked. She grimaced, knowing she didn't quite fill it out with muscles the way she should be, but she continued to tense her body, hoping it helped.

She heard a chuckle behind her.

"Feisty, isn't she?" Freeza asked his companion. "Were you locked in a cell like a dog too, little girl?" Josie blinked, turning to him with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, actually."

"And whose fault was that?" Cell asked curiously.

"...Vegeta." She bit out impulsively, wanting to give them something, without saying the obvious answer.

"Hmm." Cell answered with a raised eye brow as he studied her more closely, circling the girl. "Hold still a moment." Eyeing the button with longing, Josie forced herself to turn around to face them. "I don't sense any power from you." Cell pointed out. "Why on earth would Vegeta find you to be a threat."

That was a very good question, Josie thought, worriedly as she took another small step back. And then another.

"Well?" Cell asked, impatiently. Josie felt the breath leave her lungs, when she felt the rocky formation behind her, and brought her hands back to it, feeling for that damn button. As soon as her scrambling hands found purchase, she pressed it multiple times, only catching Freeza's attention. He tilted his head.

"What on earth are you doing?" He asked. Josie felt the formation behind her more visibly and propped herself up on it to sit, giving Freeza a look that said, '_This is what, idiot, is that ok with you?_'

"I've got a different kind of power two creatures like you would never be able to wrap your brains around." Josie answered boldly, lie after lie spewing out of her mouth. "I'm powerful." Cell and Freeza looked at each other for a moment, before bursting out into boisterous laughter.

Josie heard a distinctive third laugh and her skin crawled at the sound. She looked to the left where another celled cage remained closed, but she could make out a pair of squinted yellow eyes staring out at her. Josie would now recognize those eyes anywhere for the rest of her life.

"You lie." The raspy voice whispered wickedly.

Something snapped inside of Josie and she jumped off the rock she was on and she snarled, purposely marching towards the cave angrily; where a curious Babidi began to step forward into the light, unafraid of her. He wasn't going to do this again.

He wasn't going to ruin this microscopic chance she had of her possibly walking out of this, unharmed. Uncaring of anything but wiping the smirk off of that disgusting little face that had caused her so much pain, Josie ripped off her sheathed sword and threw it to the side, momentarily distracting him, and swiftly reached for the small wizard through the bars.

Her fast hands immediately found purchase on the back of his head and she slammed him as hard as she could:

_once_

"**Screw**"

_twice_

"**You**"

_three times_

Against the bars, making his eyes cross inside his reverberating skull, before he finally fell with a loud thump onto the dusty ground. "You little fuc-"

"BAHAHA" Freeza laughed, holding on to his side, alongside the similarly bellowing Cell. Josie's breathing was labored. She felt disgusting bits of the wizard's skin underneath her nails, and she had two of the galaxy's super villains in front of her with no one around who could stop them.

But she didn't care,

because that had felt **damn** good.

* * *

Thank You's

* * *

**GVLuver: **hehe, I thought I'd leave that up to reader interpretation! ::Cough::littlebit::Cough::

**Oneira.x:** I love you for saying that! thank you so much, I love our PM's too! Thank you so much.

**GirXizimXfanatic:** Cannot tell you how wonderful your review was too read. Thank you for saying that, truly, thank you! no bigger compliment than having readers enjoy a character enough to want them in the original series. And I'm so glad you're seeing the changes in Josie too! its been interesting to write this and my heart has definitely expanded a little for the young girl. The sad part is I don't even think she's aware of how much this has all affected her yet.

**Thomas Drovin: **haha, yeah I wonder too how Goten would feel about Matt too...but luckily he's married, so hopefully that'll set his mind more at ease? as for Josie in spandex, I just always loved that Saiyans trained and fought in Spandex, and couldn't help but think how uncomfortable teenage girls would feel in it and had to put it in there just once lol. I can tell you this much though, if Trunks had seen Josie in spandex at the check in station, I truly think there would have been NO way he would have allowed her to stay with Cerean.

:I sent you a PM about this, but again, I want to thank you for bringing this up :)

**Ueger: **I definitely did not mind the multiple reviews as you were reading the story, thank you so much for your comments! and hey, whether what happens is to your liking or not, I like listening to all viewpoints, so thank you for it all! I can't promise I'll always do what readers want to see, but I can promise you I'm a fan of happy endings!

**Lucency**: You read it all that quickly?! Kudos! and thank you so much, I'm so glad =^_^= as long as I get lovely reviews like yours, I promise i'll do my best to give you one every week.

**ImmatureChild**: Probably not too happy XD but I think luckily the girl's intentions are not bad in any way. Valerie to me, is used to hanging out with a bunch of guys back in her world since she was always a little bit of a tomboy, so hanging with Matt is totally natural for her. And Josie is a little naive, as we've noticed, so if being around Trunks hasn't told her anything about what could potentially be there between them, I think she'll hanging around another guy will be the same! even if he is a little bolder lol.

* * *

**Note:** Also, I'm fully aware that Josie has bogarted the attention in these last few chapters, but she's the one I've been most inspired to write for since what happened on Namek. Maybe it's me trying to reassure myself that my character is okay? who knows lol but I hope it hasn't been too miserable, HFIL has so many different adventures that could be had! I promise though, Val is adored and Will get more chapter time soon!

Next chapter is called: **Facing your fears**.


	38. Chapter 38: Facing Your Fears

Disclaimer: I do not own db/z/gt! (Nice and simple today...like a boss)

**Dude Where's my World?**

Revised

**Chapter 38:** Facing your fears

Valerie stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom, adjusting her hair for a few moments before stopping and looking at herself in the mirror.

"What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself, disgusted. "This is not me." She checked her teeth once briefly, before leaving the bathroom and shortly after her bedroom, trying not to look too eager as she made her way to the common area.

Goten had sent her a brief message through Giru letting her know he wanted to have a video chat with her alone. Valerie had made sure that the girls were all otherwise distracted before she'd gone up the stairs, so hopefully they'd have at least 15 minutes alone. She felt both the wonderful fluttering butterflies in her stomach as well as a small sense of dread, the paranoid side of her brain worried that he might be contacting her with more bad news about New Namek.

All fears of that were alleviated, however, as soon as she connected the video com and his smiling face came up. Unable to help but grin back, Valerie waved back shyly. "Hey." She greeted, a small blush on her cheeks.

"Hi there," Goten laughed. Even before they agreed to see one another, Valerie was always naturally shy with him and he found that so absolutely endearing. "How are you?" He asked.

"I'm good." Valerie answered automatically.

Goten raised an eyebrow at the fire-quick answer and Valerie laughed lightly, leaning back into her seat in an attempt to relax, shrugging a little bit more honestly, giving him a sheepish smile. "I'm ok." She rephrased. "Its tough."

"Yeah." He agreed with a small sigh.

"Hows Trunks?" Goten thoughtfully considered the question, trying to figure out how to best answer that without giving too much away. He'd spoken to Bulma earlier and he understood why she didn't want to needlessly worry and stress the girls back home anymore with Josie's situation, especially when it would be over with relatively soon.

"Tired." He finally answered. "Worried. Guilty. Unhappy." At every honest word, Valerie's frown deepened. "I hope you know how bad he feels about this, Val." He added gently, hoping Valerie didn't resent Trunks for not going to earth himself to tell her. "He did everything he-" Valerie nodded quickly, not wanting to hear the details.

"I know." She said quietly, looking away.

The video thing was harder on him than he thought it would be, Goten exhaled unhappily; hands flexing at his sides, wishing that he could reach through the screen and pull her into a hug, as he watched the way her shoulders hunched forward a little, as if to keep the hurt away.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come back home early?" Goten couldn't help but offer again, her attention focusing once more on him. "I just need to find my dad and.." He let the offer die off as Valerie began to shake her head.

"No," She smiled, eyes on his to leave no room for doubt. "Stay. Finish what you went to do."

Wanting to both groan or sigh in displeasure, Goten chose to remain silent, nodding instead, knowing that this truly was what she wanted. "It'll all be ok soon." He assured quietly. " I hope you know that."

"I do." Valerie said genuinely.

Goten nodded, relieved. He started to lean back into his seat again, when he straightened suddenly, remembering something. He turned his body to the side, grabbing at something off screen eagerly. "I wish I had a way to give you this." Goten said quickly, pulling out a light green hydrangea, a silly grin on his face. "Tadaa!" He presented it.

Valerie laughed at that. "That's adorable, where'd you get that?"

"Puchi helped me find it, little guy is a tough sell though!" Goten said grinning as he scratched his head absently at the thought of the trek he took to get the flower.

"What do you mean?" Valerie asked curiously.

***flashback***

"You sure you don't want me to come with?" Goten asked Trunks with worry, as his best friend and brother hovered in the air.

"No, buddy, get some rest." Trunks encouraged with a small smile. "I appreciate the help but we don't have much left and Gohan offered first."

"Get some rest, little bro." Gohan encouraged with a smile, adjusting the sleeves of his white long sleeve shirt. "Ready?" He asked Trunks who nodded, before both males took off into the sky.

From a distance, a small Puchi began to carefully approach the distracted Goten.

And after a few moments, Goten finally sensed the small presence, looking over at him, blinking in surprise. "Well hello there." He greeted with a kind smile. "How are you, Puchi, right?"

The little Namekian nodded shyly, hands behind his back. "I would like... to give you something." He explained.

Goten eyebrows rose, "For me?" He asked, surprised but pleased as a punch.

Puchi immediately shook his head. "Oh." Goten mumbled, laughing in embarrassment, as he crouched down to intimidate the shy little tyke less. "Sure, who can I give it to?" He offered helpfully.

"Josie." Puchi responded quickly, with a smile. Goten felt a stab of pain in his heart at that, unsure if someone had told the little boy what had happened to Josie yet.

A happy, but still shy, Puchi brought his hands out from hiding, producing a simple green stem with a few leaves...that were cut off at the top.

Goten sweat dropped at the less than desirable looking cut stem. "Its uh...beautiful there, Puchi." Puchi nodded excitedly in agreement, eagerly putting the plant into his hands.

"Ajisa." Puchi said happily. "Please give this to her."

"Sure, of course." He said politely, scratching his head as he turned the branch this way and that. "Should...I have her water this so it stays green?" He asked, unsure.

Puchi drew his brows and looked at Goten, as if that was the silliest question in the world.

"Ajisa." Puchi repeated sternly, as if that should be answer enough. "Plant and water, it will become very large." Puchi explained, animatedly widening his arms. "And grow Ajisa. I can show you," Little Puchi took Goten by the hand and led him into his town, passing by the crowds of Nameks without a worry in the world; as he led Goten to the plants and trees behind the town.

There were a few quiet Nameks tending to the rows of plants and shrubs that all mostly looked alike. Past the edges of the planting fields, Goten immediately spotted the odd thing out; the strange man they'd found in Babidi's ship standing at the edge of the water, staring out into the lake. But undistracted by that, Puchi pulled Goten further into the garden and pointed at some hydrangea's in all states of bloom in mostly greens, light pinks, and some blues. "Ajisa." Puchi repeated.

"Ooh, pretty flower." Goten nodded in understanding as he pulled up the stem he was holding with new curiosity. "This will grow into that?" He asked, genuinely impressed now.

"Tree." Puchi corrected. "Beautiful tree that will never die, and color changes. Magical properties." Goten blinked at the stem, eyes wider now.

"Really? wow!" He marveled. "Can I get one of these too?" He asked eagerly, wanting to get one for Valerie.

Puchi gave him a small glare. "Ajisa trees are very rare on Namek, and we do not give them away, but...she made big sacrifice." He said sadly. "I want her to have one so she doesn't..." Puchi struggled to explain himself, little frown showing his focus. "So she doesn't think of Namek as ugly and bad." Goten's heart warmed at that, and a bright smile illuminated his kind face.

He nodded. "I completely understand." He said gently. "Josie is a special person. I will make sure to give this to her."

"Very special." Puchi agreed. "Loud." Goten laughed.

***End Flashback***

"This is all he'd let me take," Goten explained to Valerie through the vidcom with a smile. "He wanted me to give one to Josie that'll turn out really nice by the sound of it. And this guy," He said rolling the hydrangea he was holding. "Will probably die before it gets to you." Valerie grinned.

"I can dry it and hang it in my room." She offered, grinning.

"I like that idea." Goten agreed with a big smile, taking the momentary silence as a chance to study the sweet girl in front of him. "I can't wait to get back home, Val." He said sincerely, a tender smile on his face. "I want to take advantage of every minute."

"Me too." Valerie said honestly. "I just want everything to go back to normal, at least for a little while." She stopped herself before saying '_before we go home_'. Goten understood though.

"I should get going." He said, scratching his head lightly. "I promised the others I'd try to get some sleep before we headed out again."

"You guys almost done with the renovating?"

Goten shook his head. "That'll take years, unfortunately, but Elder Moori insists that we've done more than enough. He wanted some help with heavy lifting and getting people to their homes, but other than he wants us to leave the rest to him." She nodded.

"Bulma said you wouldn't be able to talk to us much until its time to come back."

"Shouldn't be more than a day at this point."

"Ok." She said, satisfied. Hands on her lap, and butterflies still roaming through her stomach, she sat up and reached for the button to turn off the com. "I'll see you later,"

"Alligator?" He offered up, grinning, making her groan at the cheesiness.

"Never say that again," She pleaded laughing.

"Goodnight Val," He said softly. Valerie sighed with a smile and waved. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Goten." Valerie mumbled with a shy smile. "Night."

Turning off the communication system, Goten leaned back in his chair, exhaling happily as he put his feet up on the console, thinking of planet earth and how much he couldn't wait to get back home to it and that wonderful girl and pick up from where they left off.

A throat clearing by the door startled Goten out of his reverie in a moment. He internally groaned in mortification when he saw that it was the person he least wanted to have had listen in on that conversation.

Trunks.

Trunks leaned against the cockpit entryway, with his arms crossed and a look of aloofness. Goten studied him anxiously, not at all fooled by the apparent indifference. He noted he didn't look upset...but he didn't look happy either, so Goten remained on guard.

"She sounds like she's doing well, considering the circumstances." Trunks finally spoke, gesturing towards the screen.

Goten nodded cautiously. "She's trying to cope..." He acknowledged, trying not to sound defensive.

Trunks couldn't help but chuckle at that, as he shook his head, slowly walking into the room. He couldn't believe. She had done it, he thought with a sad smile. Josie had actually pushed the two unwilling teenagers together. And she wasn't even alive to gloat about it.

***Flashback***

_Outside the room Trunks had questioned Josie as to why he'd shoved Goten and Valerie into a food storage closet but the only thing she'd done was carefully kneel on the ground and press her ear into the door, trying hard to listen and shushing him whenever he spoke up again._

_"But Josie-"_

_"Shh!" she demanded, reaching up for him and grabbing him by his tie and tugging for him to kneel as well. He came down on his knees, just staring at her, confused. "Help me hear." She commanded in a whisper, tapping at the door with an index finger. He finally understood what she was doing, and pressed his ear into the door, amused at how focused she was and how she failed to notice how physically close they were at this moment. "Well?" She asked._

_"Uh…" He narrowed his eyes, focusing more now on what was going on the other side of the door and pulled away, a little confused, before pressing his ear again. Josie frowned at that. What could he be hearing?_

_"What are they saying?" She demanded. He held up a hand to get her to quiet down._

_"…They're talking about chocolate covered raisins." He explained._

***End Flashback**

Trunks smiled as he remembered her utter outrage when he'd said that, and how shortly after, Valerie had grown wise to her antics and had kicked the door, causing Josie to fall back and let out a stream of curses.

And that was the same night she been temporarily rendered mute.

And just that quickly, his smile was gone.

Goten witnessed all of this with a mixture of concern and sympathy, unsure of what was going on through his best friends mind but worried about him anyway. He **knew **that this would be weird for him, and he was sure that when Josie came back, this would be weird for her too. He wasn't an idiot, he realized this would change the group's dynamic, and he had really been hoping that he could avoid having this conversation before Josie came back, so his friend didn't feel like he was rubbing salt in an open wound.

But it was obviously too late for that.

"Do you want to take a seat?" Goten offered gently, gesturing to a chair in the room. Trunks eyed it for a second before shaking his head.

"No." He dismissed it. "Why would I need to take a seat?"

"...Because we should talk about this, right?" Goten asked, unsure, as he scratched the back of his head.

"What's there to talk about?" Trunks asked, with a sigh, realizing he was sounding like a jerk. "You and Valerie like each other," He shrugged simply. "I could have told you that months ago." Goten took a deep breath, leaning his forearms on the back of one of the chairs, as he took in his friends words, surprising him when he began to laugh on his exhale.

"Really?" Goten couldn't help but tease with a smile, as his laughter died off. "Because a little while back I remember both you and me being in this very room, when you grilled me with questions about my feelings for **Josie**." Trunks felt heat creep on his face at the realization, and his only response was to lean back on a wall with his arms crossed and look away. "Or am I wrong?" Goten asked with a grin.

***flashback***

_"You're supposed to prepare for surprise attacks, remember?" Goten reminded, grinning. Josie arched a brow knowing very well the two boys enjoyed antagonizing her and LOVED calling it training._

_"Is that what that was?" She asked, nodding along, eyes narrowed as she approached the unsuspecting teenager._

_"Ye-whoa!" Goten's eyes barely had time to widen before Josie jumped him, wrapping an arm around his neck rubbing her knuckles harshly on his scalp._

_"Noogie!" She said through clenched teeth, tongue sticking out as she focused on digging her knuckles to attempt to hurt the demi saiyan who attempted to wrangle his way out of it, only succeeding in lifting her off the ground, still keeping his neck firmly attached to her hip. "Say uncle, scoundrel!" She demanded as she struggled to keep a hold of him. "I've battled Namek's and won - you pose no threat to-crap!" She cursed as she landed on Trunks bed._

***End Flashback***

"You asked me if I was interested, remember?" Goten reminded with a grin. Trunks rolled his eyes.

"Just admit it if you like her, Trunks." Goten boldly asked, smiling.

"Goten, that's so far from the point right now," Trunks reminded, annoyed. "This isn't about me, its about you two. How long have you..?"

Goten hesitated. He really didn't want to tell him that it happened the day that Josie died but how long would it be before he found out? "I couldn't...I couldn't help but think about how I would feel if this had all happened to Val, and I had to tell her." He tried his best to explain.

Trunks eyes narrowed on the ground, lifting up to meet his eyes. "...Right after Josie died" Trunks stated more than asked. Goten cringed, nodding.

"I know the timing sucked, Trunks, but-" Trunks shook his head angrily.

"Val means a lot to me too, Goten." He warned. "You **better **not be taking advantage of a vulnerable moment for her." Goten's eyes began to narrow.

"You don't really think I'd do that, do you?"

"Boys." Bulma interrupted from the doorway, sternly. "That's enough. Trunks, your dad is ready to go. Goten, how about you stay with me and help me get some things I'll need for the ship before we leave." Before her sentence was finished, Trunks was already leaving the cockpit and Goten quietly watched him go, clearly hurt.

Once Trunks was out of earshot, Bulma turned her attention to Goku's youngest son. "...Your sure about this, Goten?" She asked calmly, studying the young boys face for his answer. Goten looked up at her, saddened by the fight with his best friend, but determination still reflecting in those big dark eyes that so closely resembled his father's.

He nodded.

"It's going to hurt when she goes, sweetheart." Bulma reminded gently.

"I know."

Bulma finally nodded back, a small smile lifting the edges of her mouth. "Ok then." She said, the smile widening at the shock on the young boy's face. "Come here, you big lug." Surprised, Goten laughed and went into her open arms. "You're such a stubborn guy, kiddo." She sighed in his embrace. "You always go after what you want...and I'm so happy for you both."

"Thanks so much, Bulma. I really appreciate this." She nodded.

Bulma added an afterthought, "Your mom is going to be so happy!" Goten groaned loudly again at that.

...

Josie rubbed her face, feeling frustrated. She had spent the last fifteen minutes doing everything she possibly could to distract these guys and they were growing impatient to leave.

*Flashback*

J_osie gave the knocked out Babidi one more look before grabbing her sword and carefully, buckling it from shoulder to hip, as she watched the merry powerful duo in hysterics, at her actions. _

"_I like your spunk, girl." Cell finally relaxed, grinning. "Whatever this mysterious power that you hold over Vegeta is, we want you to partner with us and use it to destroy him and his entire planet. What do you say to that?" Josie's eyes went from Cell to the approving Freeza's._

_Hell, what choice did she have right now? _

"_...Go evil..." She cheered ,half heartedly._

***End Flashback***

The only other choice would have been to have been killed faster, and regardless if she'd put it off this long, no one seemed to be coming to help. She had already talked them into telling her their dim-witted-barely-half-thought out plan to get out of hell and get Goku _this_ time, and it sucked, just like it always did.

"Come-on guys, how about we-"

"No. Let's go now, we're wasting time and I'm loosing patience." Cell finally said impatiently, hovering in the air.

"Yes, I've grown bored with the scenery." Freeza croaked, with that seemingly permanent smirk on his face. "Lets go."

"Are we going to get the-" Josie's throat dried up as she stared up and past the two beings, where Cerean was hovering a few hundred feet away.

He'd found her.

_Oh no, no, no, no. _She frantically thought. His eyes were firmly glued on Freeza's back. He **had** to know he didn't stand a chance against him, right? The shaking fists at his side, and the hatred reflected on his face didn't make her think he did. Did he know that Freeza had destroyed his planet? how could he even- realizing she was short on time, she laughed loudly, nervously. "The Ginyu Force?" Josie finished asking, clearing her throat and looking only at the duo, realizing she'd nearly given him away by staring.

"There's no need for those weak fools," Freeza answered. "They'll only slow us down."

"How about your father?" She quickly added, sweat dropping off the sides of her face, heart racing in her chest at the thought of Cerean getting hurt because of her. These guys would annihilate him. She shook her head strongly, hoping desperately that he looked at her and understood what she was trying to warn him against.

And he had.

He was beyond furious, not only at the sight of the sole reason of his planet's destruction and slavery but at the thoughtless, impulsive girl below who obviously lacked honor. And now there she was, like a fool, entrapped by the strongest man in the universe and some green grasshopper trying to stop his approach.

"Maybe you should hide!" She said loudly to Cell and Freeza, intending for Cerean to be the real recipient of her request. He snarled, not surprised that she would insult his pride on top of everything else.

"What on earth for?" Cell questioned, looking at the girl like she was crazy - no longer amused by her quirk, finding himself growing weary of her increasingly erratic behavior.

"What if..." Josie started, eyes widening as her peripheral caught something past Cell AND Cerean. Flying, at what seemed like the speed of light was Pikkon, barreling right towards them. Josie grinned as all three warriors turned around to see what she was looking at.

"Oh not him again." Freeza growled angrily. "It appears we have company, Cell. Be on guard."

Cell huffed indignantly as he turned fully to await the green warrior. "There's no need." He said confidently. "The last time we met, this frog only managed to get the upper hand because he had the element of surprise, but this time-"

The poor guy didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence, Josie thought with a cringe, at the ensuing blows that ended the battle pathetically before it even had a chance to begin. Pikkon was merciless and had made that look like child's play. When he finished beating them to pulps, he cuffed Cell and glanced up at Cerean, throwing another pair of restraints at him.

"Get the other one." He requested.

Cerean slowly came to the ground, jaw tight and a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes at the request, as he approached the Icejin with malicious glee. He roughly picked him up and tightened the cuffs on him until his hands swelled.

"Cerean?" Josie called nervously. Cerean turned particularly hard, 'accidentally' rounding his elbow painfully into Freeza's face in the process.

"Yes?" He asked, a small smirk of satisfaction appearing on his face at the cracking noise the impact made. Josie could almost smile, if the noise hadn't been so gross.

"Nothing." She said, embarrassed, thinking she shouldn't annoy him any further by making a spectacle of her apology. Pikkon studied her as he fluidly tied both prisoners together and Josie could feel it, turning to look up at him curiously. His coloring was fascinating, the square opening of his ears...she shook her head to focus on his piercing red eyes.

"Its very nice to meet you Pikkon," She said with an exhale of relief. "You have really good timing...but this is, at least, the second time that these guys have escaped their prisons in HFIL. I don't mean to tell your King Yemma how to do his job...but obviously this isn't enough." She said gesturing to their surroundings.

Pikkon slowly nodded, taking a look around.

"That guy in there too." Josie said as an afterthought, gesturing to where the unconscious Babidi still laid in his cave. "He needs something harsher and more restrictive than this." She said with a frown. "After what he did on Namek it should be pretty obvious he can find a way to escape. All three of them keep trying to hurt people, so stronger punishment sounds fair, right? I don't want Goku or my friends to ever have to deal with these three losers again, can you push for something that'll actually hold them, Pikkon?" Pikkon finally smiled, as he yanked at the furiously struggling enemies.

"I think I can do that." He agreed, as he slowly began to hover up slightly into the air. "You're the creature the Kai's have been arguing about for a few days, I take it." Josie raised an eyebrow.

"...That could be me, yeah." She shook her head at the absurdity of their paranoia and offered up her hand. "Josie." He smirked.

"I'd tell you my name but you-" Josie nodded, understanding. Pikkon glanced at the unconscious Babidi but before he could ask, Josie answered.

"He's the reason I'm dead and he made me angry, so I hit him a few times..." She cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Until he uh...went to sleep." The grin only grew on Pikkon's face as he nodded in acceptance. Pikkon heard a gasp for breathe to his left and looked over, seeing Cerean tightening the chains around Freeza.

"Making sure its good and secure," Cerean cleared his throat, a tiny smirk on his face. "It seems like it is."

Pikkon shook his head, amused at these two. "I'll have someone bring out a cage to transport him." He promised. "It was good to meet you." Josie finally let some of her excitement show in her eyes as she grinned back at the famous other world fighter.

"Trust me, the pleasure is ALL mine." She assured, as he gave a final wave and took off into the air. Josie tensed, knowing an angry Cerean was still behind her. She kept waving at the retreating dot in the sky. Obviously this trick never worked but it gave her some time to think of how to get out of the situation.

Cerean circled around to get in her line of sight and scowled at her, his arms crossed.

Josie sighed. "Listen-" Suddenly, she gasped, her eyes widening as she ran around him, furiously dashing for the stairs where Cerean quickly appeared and easily blocked off. "No move!" Josie insisted, pushing at his concrete like arm. "Seriously Cerean, I'm not going anywhere, I just need to check on Blue!" He frowned at that, moving to the side to let her through. He followed behind her and, sure enough, right above the stairs was an ogre leaning back against a rock, cradling his arm to his chest. He looked at Josie resentfully but allowed her to get close.

"You could have warned me, you know." Blue scolded.

"I'm sorry." Josie said sincerely. "I didn't have any time, I'm just glad you didn't cry out or make any noise-"

"I was too shocked! You seemed so nice!" Cerean snorted at that, receiving a glare from Josie for that. She got down onto her knees and gently took Blue's arm to examine it.

"They would have killed us both." Josie promised, still feeling bad about striking him.

"...I think we should send out a telegram warning all ogres of your level of threat to their kind." Josie threw Cerean another glare over her shoulder that told him that wasn't funny right now.

She turned her attention back to Blue, "It looks like the bleeding stopped?" Josie observed softly, with a tinge of question. Blue nodded.

"I pressed on it." He mumbled as he tried to look at it too.

"Good Blue." She praised happily as she gave him his arm back. "You'll be ok," She assured. "You just need some rest and a lot of coddling. Is there a Mrs. Blue at home?" She asked teasingly, as she leaned back comfortably.

Cerean watched her with curiosity.

He was mad, no doubt about that. But the anger and annoyance didn't surpass the interest she continued to arouse in him. She was so bizarre: one minute she was terrified of everything that moved, the next she was standing up to - what apparently was - two of the galaxy's strongest dark beings. Next she trips an ogre into a burning hot blood pond, and playfully teases another after pretending to split his neck open.

He glanced back down to the cages below remembering that she'd also apparently beat her killer into unconsciousness. He smirked at that last one. There was hope yet for her.

"Thank you for staying behind with me." Blue said sincerely.

"Eh, who knows," Josie joked. "I might have left you behind had I had seen them walking over here instead of flashing in front of us like that." Blue laughed for a moment as Josie began to help him up to his feet with his uninjured arm.

"I feel better." He assured. "I just need help getting downstairs to the first aid kit, I'll call someone to take my post and be taken home." Cerean nodded, taking his arm from around Josie's shoulders and placing them around his own.

"There's a small office past the last cave, Josie, pick up the phone from the cradle and dial 2, it'll go straight to the directory." Josie nodded, surprised at Cerean's willingness to help.

She glanced back up at them as she descended quickly down the stairs, remembering his position and wondering if that entailed helping other Guards whenever the situation required it. She wouldn't doubt it. She grinned as she rushed to the office, unable to help but think how cool this guy was.

She did as he commanded, happy to note that Cerean had flown Blue down to the office instead of making him stumble his way down the stairs.

"They're on their way and will take care of getting you home too." Josie explained as she hung up the phone. Blue nodded.

"Thanks again," He said to both of them. "You saved my hide." Before Josie could argue, he continued. "And sir, I'm assuming you're some sort of guard keep?" Cerean nodded.

"High risk Transport." He said briefly, before leaving the office to go wait outside for the new crew to arrive.

Josie watched Blue's eyes light up with curiosity. "Cool." He mumbled with a smile.

"Hey Blue, I have a question for you?" Josie asked, taking a seat beside the ogre and taking the first aid kit from his hands to do it herself.

"Yes?"

"Tell me where I can find Saiyans." She asked, as she took out a few alcohol swabs and gauze. Blue looked at her like she was crazy.

"Why would you-"

"Call me curious and stupid - in which ever order you want - but can you please tell me what you know?" Unsure, he glanced at the door where Cerean had just left, having seen his tail, and knowing that he was a part of that race. "Cerean knows I want to meet them." She assured, not bothering to mention that he didn't approve. "If he looked mad, that was totally at me for leaving him earlier. I promise that has nothing to do with you. Now tell me, pretty please?"

"..." He exhaled strongly as she applied the antiseptic to an open cut on his face. "Fine." He said, gently pushing her hand away. Josie patiently sat back, hands on her lap, waiting. "You can do this two ways," He began to explain. " You can go back, way back, to where you likely came from in Area 1 sector 3 through the blood pond." Josie frowned, having a little bit of a hard time following, but nodding.

"Or?"

"Or is right, going through the blood pond hurts. Option number two is you can go past this office onto the path that goes west, now, you have to realize this path is tricky too because you'll have to go through a portal that you can only find in Yemma's Forest."

".._Who_ forest?" Josie grimaced. "This will be taking me to where?"

"Hell realm." Blue answered honestly.

"You cant go there." Cerean said simply, as he stood once more at the doorway.

"I thought we already were in the hell realm? and why not?" Josie asked, confused.

"Technically, yes, this is HFIL but its a... stationary place to many other levels of hell, some worse than others. Only ogres can enter this realm I'm talking about _without_ becoming body less spirits." Blue answered for him, as he awkwardly bandaged his arm.

"White fluffy thing?" Josie asked for confirmation with dread, receiving two nods. She thought it over carefully as she helped Blue finish securing his arm. "I think I'll be fine." She finally answered. She interrupted Cerean before he argued, "Yemma tried to take away my body when he sentenced me to this place but he couldn't, so I really think that i'll probably hopefully be ok."

"_Probably hopefully be ok_." Cerean repeated with a shake of his head, disbelief ringing loudly in his frustrated voice. "Even if by chance you did manage to avoid becoming a body-less spirit, I will remind you that **I** am not immune to it, and would become like every other body-less being there, rendering me useless in protecting you."

Josie thought that argument over as she put away the first aid kit inside of a small drawer of a simple black desk that took up a corner of the room. She calmly walked around the desk and sat on it as she pondered her response. "...Wouldn't that not matter since everyone is a spirit there? no one would be able to hurt me." She said reasonably, smiling in victory when a tic began to develop on Cerean's frowning face. "That would actually make that place the safest area in hell for me, if everyone who can hurt me is a spirit,"

"And also the most confusing," Cerean interrupted. "How would you know who you were looking for when everyone looks the same." Josie sweat dropped at the thought of thousands of spirits that couldn't be told apart. "And I don't know what sweet image you have of this place," He said with annoyance. "But it is designated to make these spirits _miserable_," He reminded, as she frowned. "It won't have amusement parks."

"I don't have any image..." Josie mumbled in annoyance.

"All the spirits actually all have nametags for that." Blue corrected, immediately cringing back when Cerean turned to glare at him in a way that told him he was not helping. "B-but it is a pretty sad place for sure." He added. Josie glared at Cerean to back off of the broken ogre. She got off the desk and slowly paced the small area thinking over her options.

"How far is that from here?" Josie asked Blue, glancing at him.

"Not far." He said honestly. "Right at the edge of Yemma Forest." Josie turned her pleading eyes to Cerean.

"I know I screwed up, trust me, you'll come to learn I'm a bag full of that." She said honestly. "But I didn't mean to hurt your..." She bit her tongue, not wanting to say 'feelings' and further piss off this guy. "**Our," **She corrected. "Fragile trust - and I know, _I know_, I'm just a prisoner and all that but you have to admit you've had a good time with me." She teased, elbowing him lightly on his bicep.

He looked down at his arm, raising a brow at her, not caving an inch. "Come-on!"

"Interesting time" He corrected, making her laugh.

"Fine, interesting! I'll take that! but you said it yourself before, Cerean - there are spirit monitors there who'll be able to change you back to a full grown man if you decide to come with me. And I can finally drop this! we can go back home and train-or hey, maybe we can go to the amusement park for a little before heading home." He gave her a look that told her she was pushing it. "What do you say? you can see people from your past, how longs it been since you've seen one of your very own?"

That did it, she could tell. He was hers. She tried not to grin and rub her hands at the thought, as he turned back around to leave.

"...Lets get this over with." He mumbled, leaving the office.

Once he was out of the door Josie squealed, running in place excitedly.

* * *

Thank you's:

* * *

**Soul of Paladdin**: I sent you a PM for this, thanks again for taking the time.

**nathaniel . pryce:** I thought about this afterwards, I totally should have done as you suggested. I still may be able too in a few chapters, lets see if I can squeeze something like that in there ;) thanks for the review!

**Thomas Drovin:** She truly should have, I think she mistakingly thought she'd be safe because HFIL does have security but sometimes, DBZ villains tend to escape their confines and what do you do then! panic, is what I say lol.

**Buzzk97:** Yay! I'm so glad you like Cerean, I love him too, he's definitely top 3 of my favorite original characters (other than the two girls of course) and I HAD to add a little moment for Josie getting some small semblance of revenge on Babidi XD

**GVLuver:** That's why he's one of my favorites! he's so... matter of fact, confident, and completely unashamed.

**Lucency**: Wohoo! that was the plan! I just kept looking at the number of reviews go up and was so grateful, and I had the chapter ready to go so I figured, why not thank them in my own way? You're fantastic, thank you so much for those words.

**kalub097**: Thank you so much for your multiple/wonderful reviews. I was so excited, no bigger compliment than hearing I'm doing the characters justice!

* * *

**Note**: I'm not trying to skip chapters or anything, but next chapter is one of my favorites for sure, lots of wild things happening in HFIL! I'm so excited to share it! Please review! hopefully next chapter will be out by the weekend, or maybe before hand ; )

Next chapter: **Yemma Forest**


	39. Chapter 39: Yemma Forest

**Disclaimer**: I own no forests or green things really, that includes all Piccolo's and Nameks (Puchi is mine though!)

**Dude Where's my world**

Revised

Last time: "_What do you say? you can see people from your past, how longs it been since you've seen one of your very own?"_

_That did it, she could tell. He was hers. She tried not to grin and rub her hands at the thought, as he turned back around to leave. _

"_...Lets get this over with." He mumbled, leaving the office._

_Once he was out of the door Josie squealed, running in place excitedly._

**Chapter 39**: Yemma Forest

"Stop frowning so much, will you?" Josie asked Cerean, as the angry Saiyan walked stubbornly behind her, arms crossed as he glowered at the ground. Josie stopped with a smile on her face, and just as she thought, Cerean was so caught up in his own irritation with her, that he walked right into her.

Granted, the firm steps of the much bigger Saiyan had been more than enough to drop her flat on her bottom, but the look on his face of shock was enough to make it worth it for her. She sat on the ground with her forearms propping her back up, grinning at Cerean.

"Well...that's not a smile, but its a step in the right direction." Josie said cheekily. Snapping out of it, Cerean rolled his eyes and walked around her. "Oh come-on!" Josie quickly unbuckled the sword from around herself and extended it out to him. "Here, I trust you'll protect me and I don't plan on running away anymore, so I won't need this."

"This is all a stupid idea." He scowled as he took the covered end of the sword and exhaled loudly in annoyance, tugging on it to help her up. Josie easily came up along with the sword, and she swatted at the back of her legs, watching Cerean as he walked on ahead without her, and she grinned.

"You have to stop being mad at me sometime, Cerean!" Josie scrambled to catch up to the quickly disappearing Saiyan, slowing when she saw where Cerean had stopped.

Josie's mouth dropped.

There was no doubt that THIS was the Yemma Forest that Blue had mentioned. She had seen a little bit of green here and there in HFIL, but** nothing** like this.

Large sequoia's and evergreen trees littered the seemingly endless landscape, reaching upwards of 230 feet in the air, and spanning at least 2-3 times her height in width. The dense forest had a beautiful orange and red glow from the sky above, that was richly contrasted by the vibrant green vegetation that decorated the root cluttered ground; Some of the branches jutted up impossibly far, whilst others branches hung thick and heavy with leaves that melded into the bushes on the ground below, making it nearly impossible to make out exactly where the forest entrance was.

"This is it." Cerean said roughly, unimpressed. "Lets go. Stay close." Josie nodded dumbly, still awe struck by how beautiful this was. She scurried to his side, tempted to take his arm in this uneven, new and overwhelming terrain but she didn't want to risk further angering him so she stopped herself. But it was hard so not to be moved by such wild beauty.

They moved slowly through the forest, mostly due to Josie's incessant stopping...

"Cerean, look." Josie pointed at excitedly, darting off to the side to see the rich and colorful vegetation; there were large flowerbeds and plants of all the designs, shapes and colors of the rainbow. "They seem to be breathing." She mumbled, awed by a particularly long stream of white and red flowers that had not budded yet but did seem to move slowly up and down. Josie leaned forward, seeing another bright colorful flower behind those, with purple cylinder shaped petals that were clustered together pointed sharply up; the interesting part though was that the purple vertical tip had white edges that seemed to bow out for a tiny nose, and two dark dots on either side that looked like eyes.

They blinked, and Josie gasped, stepping back.

Cerean came up behind her, taking her by the arm and moving her away. "We need to stay together, Josie." He reminded, frowning at the sky as he heard unfamiliar noises of chirping birds and crickets. Josie nodded thoughtfully as she followed after him, leaves crunching beneath her feet with every step she took on the uneven ground.

"It's like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Josie agreed, ducking underneath a branch to follow him, following him slightly downward on an enormous root.

"Charlie and the what?" Cerean asked, confused, as he smacked another branch out of the way.

"The kids! they kept touching things and getting in trouble." She tried to explain, as she struggled to keep up his pace on such a dramatically changing leveled ground.

"Then yes, like this Charlie." Josie shook her head, about to explain that Charlie wasn't the trouble maker out of the bunch, but shrugged and instead choose to focus on the increasing climb upward.

Other than a few comments from Josie occasionally, the two remained in relative silence for a few hours as they continued forward through the increasingly difficult mountainous trek. Josie's breathing was labored, as she leaned on her knees to rest momentarily as she looked up at the sky, unwittingly amused by the fact she could barely peek through the leaves and branches to see any of the actual sky with how dense the forest was. She narrowed her eyes at the noise of rapid rain drops above her and gasped when a large drop of water fell straight on her head, as the rain began to pummel through the leaves.

She coughed and sputtered, wishing she wasn't choking, so that she could effectively look more menacing as she glared at the laughing Cerean who stood twenty feet ahead of her, soaked to the bone too, but uncaring. "Why is it raining!" Josie complained as she swiped her hands out at her sides, unhappily. "Aren't we in HFIL?" She demanded, rhetorically. "Rain in a fiery hot hell defeats the purpose of punishment!" She bemoaned, stomping towards the amused Saiyan.

"The rain hasn't changed the hot weather at all." Cerean pointed out, crossing his arms as Josie finally caught up to him. "You're slowing." He pointed out.

"I'm friggin exhausted." She admitted, still sweating profusely despite the rain, pushing her hair back and swiping at the water steadily falling on her face. "As you've nicely pointed out: it's hot, humid, and I have been walking for easily over eight hours today." As Cerean's eyes began to narrow, Josie quickly put her hands up, water blowing from her lips. "I'm not trying to get pity for what I did before," She clarified. "I'm still sorry for that, but i'm just explaining that I'm really tired, I'm sore and hungry." Cerean shook his head and continued forward. There was nothing he could offer her to eat, even if he wanted too. The wildflowers here weren't edible and the only thing he could entertain the idea of feeding her was something that would get him in a lot of trouble, if he somehow found it for her.

"Let's keep going." He mumbled, hoping that the lack of things she wanted would encourage her to go back home with him sooner. Josie nodded with a sigh, struggling to go from slippery moss covered rock to even more slippery, moss covered rocks. Soon enough though, she began to fall far behind again, and she was forced to come to a stop when she came across a beautiful break between trees where the only way across seemed to be climbing down more wet rocks, and across a small quickly running river OR across a fallen tree log that didn't comfort her with its small width. Cerean watched her dilemma from ahead, and as she began to begin to climb down towards the running river, he swiftly came back and carefully grabbed her arm, scooping her off the ground and onto his chest before hovering across.

Josie watched him with sincere surprise but didn't dare say a word for fear of him getting angry and dropping her right on the the running water below. As his feet came back on the ground, he continued to walk a few more steps and Josie began to grow hopeful.

"Only half an hour." Cerean warned, with displeasure, as he adjusted her in his arms to hold her more comfortably. Josie bit her bottom lip to stop herself from grinning and leaned her head on his shoulder so that he would not see her smile. She found just the right spot underneath his chin to avoid the downpour and quickly fell asleep in minutes, body throbbing with overuse and fatigue.

As she slept, Josie dreamed. _She dreamt she was sitting indian style in this very forest, the strangely dark jungle illuminated by candles and a campfire a few feet away. Josie took a deep breath of the warm air and smiled, going back to drawing a circle around herself with a stick she'd somehow gotten._

"_Pretty cool place you found," Josie looked up and saw Valerie sitting atop a low branch on a nearby tree, feet swaying comfortably in the air. _

"_What are you doing up there?" Josie asked her, smile still in place. "Did you forget your scared of heights?" _

_Goten's head popped out, upside down, a few inches beside Val very own head, splaying leaves everywhere as he happily smiled, curiously. "You are? I didn't know that. What do you have to be afraid of? we're here, aren't we?" He asked rhetorically, gently nudging her forward, making her yelp and grab on to the tree trunk, angrily. _

"_Will you cut that out_."_ Trunks scolding voice resonated._ _Josie turned around to find Trunks laying on the very log she'd been trying to cross to get to...? The name just out of reach for her mind, Josie shook her head as she instead focused on Trunks, instantly smiling at how relaxed he looked in this moment, with his arms comfortably behind his head and one leg dangling down - looking completely at ease. He turned his head to look at Josie and smiled at her affectionately. _

"_...I miss you guys" Josie realized with surprise, taking her sweet time in studying all of her individual friends. _

"_Well..." Valerie laughed as Goten made a silly face right at her. "Come back soon, baka." She reprimanded lightheartedly. Goten reached up into the tree and brought out an orange fruit. _

"_Heads up," Goten warned, throwing the fruit at Trunks who raised a hand and caught the orange fruit effortlessly. He studied it as he began to sit up. _

"_What is it?" He asked, curiously. _

"_Bad bad bad..." Valerie mumbled nervously, as she dangled off her tree branch, trying to get back up._

_..._

When Josie's eyes fluttered awake, she was laying on her side in a softly illuminated tent of some kind, her hands in relaxed fists by her face. Her hair and body felt wet and she blinked slowly, as she quizzically scratched at the ground beneath her.

Grass.

"You're awake." Cerean pointed out. Josie lifted her eyes to look at the man speaking, finding him across from her, sitting on the ground against the tent with one knee propped up and his elbow casually strung over it as he stared to the side distracted. Josie began to push herself up into a sitting position, yawning as she stretched, able to make out a few things now: it was still raining outside, and they were not in a tent at all.

"Where are we?" Josie asked, taken aback.

"Inside a tree." Cerean told her, turning to look back at her. Josie looked around more intently now, noticing the dark surface surrounding her way indeed a tree. She felt the bark behind her carefully, noting that the solid wall of wood arched high enough to where she was sure Cerean would be able to easily raise the hands of his 6'2 form and not touch the arch of the wood, encompassing them both. It had wide openings on either side, keeping the forest largely visible on both sides.

"Wow." Josie awed for a few minutes, enjoying the serenity, the smells and the noise outside, "Its still raining." Josie noted, looking out.

"Barely..." Cerean corrected. "Are you still tired?" Josie turned to look back at Cerean, who was frowning.

She knew he didn't want to hear yes and she internally groaned. "Are you ready to keep going?" She asked back, nervously. If she was honest, she truly was exhausted, all her bones ached and her stomach growled loudly in the echoing tree. He raised an eyebrow at that.

"If it weren't for your inability to fight, I would have a hard time believing you'e not a Saiyan."

"I don't eat like a Saiyan." She assured, getting up with a grimace to stretch out and prepare for the next leg of the journey, while Cerean quietly studied her. He got up after a minute without a problem and silently followed her back out into the forest, turning her shoulders as she unknowingly began to head in apparently the wrong direction.

Josie turned her head up, and back at where they'd come from. "I know I don't have a compass but are you sure this is the right way?" Josie asked, confused. Cerean passed her and continued on.

"We're making a small detour." Josie blinked at that, surprised.

"Really?" She asked as she held on to his hand for assistance, as she scooted over a large fallen tree. "Careful Cerean, you're sounding adventurous now.." He ignored the teasing and let go of her hand when she made it across.

Josie was just thinking about how grateful she was that the next mile looked fairly open and unhazardous when a big gray bubble slammed into her face.

"AAH!" She screamed, falling back onto the ground holding her forehead, cursing. She was beginning to open her eyes again, rubbing avidly at her face when she saw a bright purple light beginning to emanate from where Cerean was, and as she sat up, she realized it was coming from his palms and it was being aimed at this foreign creature. She looked up and saw the round gray bubble was a shield of some kind around a...

"Gregory?!"

The little gray cricket looked down at her with a mixture of disdain and confusion. "Wait, Cerean stop!" Josie requested, before the Saiyan blasted the poor cricket dead in a terrible accident.

Wait, Gregory was already dead, wasn't he?

"You're not Gregory!" Josie accused, standing shakily back up. "Who are you!"

The hovering cricket looked over his shoulder at Cerean suspiciously before turning his attention back to the girl in front of him. "My name is Montgomery." He finally answered, crossing his arms. "I'm the Elder Sprite." Josie's face twisted in confusion.

"What the heck is a Sprite?" Josie asked.

"My race!" He squawked defensively.

"But... you're a cricket."

"I am a Sprite! Show. Some. RESPECT!" Montgomery demanded, quickly zipping past her head, making her nervously begin to duck again.

Cerean's hand began to form a small glow again, and Josie waved her hands to stop him.

"Whoa, whoa, ok, ok little dude. Let's just calm down..." Josie requested, hands in the air as she tried to calm the erratic little 'sprite'. Montgomery slowed down, eyeing her wearily.

Now that she took a closer look at him, he did look a little older than she remembered Gregory looking, she thought, and his voice was certainly different. "You're right," She acknowledged. "I'm sorry, you're definitely not Gregory. That was my bad." Montgomery nodded slowly, floating higher to keep an eye on both the girl and the Saiyan now.

"What are you doing in my forest?" He demanded. Josie looked to Cerean with confusion.

"They'd give a forest to a cricket?" Cerean smirked as Josie yelped in pain, as she was bonked on the head by the cricket, knowing that she had definitely deserved that one.

"OW!" Josie groaned from the ground. "OKAY! Geez, dude! I'm sorry! I **meant** to say!" She shouted, hoping to stop him before he hit her again. "That I thought that this was Yemma's Forest," Josie corrected herself, rubbing her throbbing head as she sat up, a little too dizzy to try standing at the moment.

"It is." Montgomery allowed, landing on the ground on both feet in front of her, his protective shield gone and his black eyes shining curiously, as he studied her. "I guard an important asset in this forest." He explained. "Now, who are _you_?" Josie exhaled, willing the throbbing to stop.

"Josie." She extended her hand to the little guy, getting goosebumps when a tiny rough sharp hand took her hand and shook it.

"...You guard the Spirit Crystals." Cerean finally understood aloud. Montgomery looked over at him, calculating.

"...I do." He finally said proudly, unafraid of the strong man. Josie looked past Montgomery to Cerean, confused and completely out of the loop as to what they were talking about.

Cerean grinned as he caught sight of Josie's confused expression. "Does the _all knowing_ human girl from planet earth not know what Spirit Crystals are?" Cerean asked, grin firmly in place. Josie was so tempted to flip him off, but didn't want to risk loosing her finger over it.

"I don't know everything!" She shouted defensively. "I try to tell everyone that but they assume! Now," Josie continued, turning her attention back to the sprite with narrowed eyes, feeling challenged. "These _'Spirit Crystals_'," She mocked. "What do they do?"

"Grant unparalleled power to the holder." The Elder Sprite announced boastfully.

"How." Josie questioned persistently.

Clearly not having expected that bold question, Montgomery began to grow ruffled, answering angrily, "That is an ancient secret that an insolent young girl like you does not get the answer too simply because she wants to know!" Josie studied the cricket's lifted chin, his tiny sharp knuckles resting on his hips, and that righteous indignation, for a few silent moments, before a small smile began to form on her face, before she confidently announced:

"...Bullshit." Montgomery gasped, and Cerean's eyes widened at her audacity.

Josie crossed her arms, staring right at the cricket, not showing an ounce of backing down, whilst the sprite angrily grew red and began to shake. "Go ahead, hit me again." Josie goaded. "But you're lying." She said confidently. "Gregory was never a good bluffer either."

"Let me guess," Josie insisted, putting a hand up to stop him from saying anything. "...The Spirit Crystal is some sort of test to prove..." She studied him carefully as he began to sweat drop nervously. "A warriors true heart, their intentions...oh geez," She wrinkled her nose. "Don't tell me this is one of those things where the process of getting one of these dumb crystals is to prove that you've had the power _all along_ and that lame crap?" Throughout her guesses, Montgomery grew more and more embarrassed, blushing bright red. "Did Goku do this? This sounds like a stupid pure of heart Goku thing." Not hearing a fervent denial from the little cricket, Josie rolled her eyes and stood up, uninterested in the topic now. She failed to notice the stupefied expression on Cerean's face at her unraveling the mystery of the Spirit Crystal in _seconds_.

Josie sighed as she swiped at her spandex and pulled at it uncomfortably. "I keep thinking i'll get used to this stupid outfit and I just don't." She mumbled. "Let's get on out of here, Cerean." She encouraged, walking to him and patting his arm briefly before lifting a branch and stepping back into a more dense part of the forest, pausing there. "Ready?" She asked him, looking back. Cerean just looked at her, still shell shocked. "What?" She asked confused.

She was probably being rude, she figured. That was always the problem. Josie turned her eyes past Cerean, towards the cricket and added, "It was nice to meet you though, Montgomery. See you around sometime!" Josie gestured with her head for Cerean to go with her and he finally did so, still flabbergasted, but at least moving his feet now. "He was nice." She commented as they continued, more comfortable moving branches out of the way and carefully crossing through uneven terrain, thankful that Cerean had insisted on walking behind her now, so that she could set the pace now.

They had been walking for thirty minutes now, Josie trying to quicken her pace as much as possible, finding herself annoyed at how slowly Cerean was walking behind her, almost loosing sight of him with how far back he was at some point.

"Come-on Cerean," Josie shouted back, hands cupped around her mouth. "I get you're trying to slow down for me, but this is ridiculous!" Rolling her eyes, she continued forward, noticing a beautiful and near perfect circle of enormous trees with long long roots extending farther to every side than she could even see. She trekked forward, jumping up on the slight elevation to reach those set of trees, figuring she might as well rest a little for the 60 seconds it would take Cerean to catch up. Resting her weight against one of the large tree trunks, she waited patiently.

"Careful what you touch." She heard a deep voice boom behind her warned; freezing, Josie turned slowly, surprised to see no one.

Nothing but a few leaves blowing in the slight and warm breeze. A little freaked out, Josie combed a stubborn stray hair back into her pony tail, leaning back on the tree, confused.

"You keep grabbing me." The deep voice insisted, annoyed.

Yelping once more, Josie whirled around, eyes widened in horror, as one of the massive tree's branch began to extend towards her, wrapping gently around her waist.

"She can touch my tree trunk if she wants too." A secondary raspy voice assured. Josie's eyes continued to widen as she came to the horrifying realization that two trees were talking to her, and one of them was pulling her towards it.

"...IT'S...GONNA EAT ME!" Josie shouted hysterically, panicked as she swatted at the tree branch that was holding her in vain, in an attempt to break free, screaming.

**BOOM!**

Off flew the tree's branch, dropping to the ground with the shocked Josie still in it, landing on the ground with a thud, as she looked up from within the circle of trees, seeing Cerean at a distance, hand still aimed, looking like he was poised to finish the two trees off.

"AAH!" The tree screamed for a few small moments before the scream slowly died down. Josie turned to look at the screaming tree, alarm and fascination at what she saw: it had large black clouded eyes, nose, and a wide mouth that was twisted down in pain and irritation. The pain and irritation, however, seemed to quickly fade along with his hiss, blinking, as he looked at his remaining tree branches on his left side, shrugging. "Oh well." The raspy voiced tree dismissed, turning his attention back to Cerean. "I have a dozen more of where that bad boy came from, can you say the same?" The raspy voice challenged the Saiyan suggestively, chuckling as Cerean sneered in disgust.

The tree turned his attention back to Josie who squeaked in distress at having the lime light, raising up a small portion of the tree branch, in hopes of hiding behind it. "Please don't eat me." Josie pleaded, eyes wide. The tree raised an eyebrow, barking a laugh.

"Will you stop saying that!" He asked, surprised. "I ain't gonna eat ya, I'm a vegetarian, girl! ...or would that make me cannibal?" Josie butt began to scooch back, centimeter by awkward centimeter, in a rushed slow shuffle, from her spot on the ground. The tree continued, completely unaware. "For eatin' my own kind? Beech, am I a cannibal?" The tree asked persistently of the first tree, sounding genuinely concerned by this possibility.

Josie continued to slowly scoot backwards, hoping to go unnoticed, until her back bumped into the first talking tree, Beech, who grumbled to life, eyes appearing back on his face as he scowled down at her.

"What did I say about touching?" Eyes the size of saucers again, Josie dashed right up off the ground with a screech, nearly stumbling over herself in an attempt back away from them, frantically looking for Cerean.

"You eat Kites occasionally, Bladdernut." Another more upbeat, friendly voice echoed in reminder, concerning Bladdernut's distress over his diet. Josie whirled around, seeing a **third** talking tree that had spoken up, happy eyes appearing on his face as he waved a branch in greeting at her, making her begin to pale as she eyed the only two remaining unmoving trees with apprehension.

"Hm...that is true," Bladdernut acquiesced, still oblivious to the girl's stress, bringing a branch to thoughtfully scratch at his chin. "I do like stealing Yemma's kites...I think i still have one in here somewhere," He remembered, reaching up into the bushes of his leaves with determination, glancing at Josie momentarily with a grin. "What do you say, pretty creature? want to go perusing through my-"

"Leave her alone, Bladdernut, you're repulsive." A fourth, more feminine tree scolded sternly, bright eyes with long lashes looking at Josie sympathetically, as all the color finished leaving the young girls face. "Don't be frightened, little one. Bring her over here to sit with me, Buckeye, before she passes out." The third tree with the upbeat voice that had mentioned the kites did as the female tree requested, scooping Josie gently up, and passing her to his beautiful burnt orange colored neighbor tree.

"Ah ah." A fifth tree warned Cerean, as the Saiyan stepped forward. The fifth tree completed the circle of trees that currently surrounded Josie; He pushed out branches to block off Cerean, as did the first one that Josie had bumped into. "I wouldn't stop you from approaching, if you hadn't gone and attacked one of my own." The fifth tree explained sternly.

Unable to pay much attention to Cerean's predicament with her own heart ready to hammer right out of her chest, Josie focused on the fact that a tree was petting her.

**A tree.**

Josie's wide eyes stared out, frozen in shock, as the female tree stroked her hair "gently". Josie grimaced with every splintery stroke.

"My name is Chinaberry, sweetness." The tree told her kindly, soft mouth turned up in a gentle smile at the adorable shaking little bundle in her grasp.

A Whistle emitted, "And what I would not give for a chance of _that_ chinaberry-"

"BLADDERNUT!" All four trees echoed in displeasure.

Chinaberry sighed, slightly shaking her head, which caused all kinds of burnt orange colored leaves to rain down on Josie, quickly piling up to the top of her head. "Oh my." She exclaimed, surprised at what she'd done to the girl. Chinaberry quickly moved the leaves away, uncovering the still shaking girl who stared at her distrustfully.

"Can I take a look at her, Chinaberry?" The third eager tree, the one they'd called Buckeye, asked. Without waiting for a response, he reached for Josie's ankle, lifting her into the air to study her with an eye that was the size of Josie's whole upper body; failing to notice Josie's chattering teeth as she was turned this way and that.

Seeing enough of this circus act, Cerean walked towards them, preparing a blast in each hand.

Growling in irritation, the fifth tree extended his branch in a moment and yanked Josie's leg from Buckeye to him, holding a quickly sharpening branch to her throat. "You will stay, Saiyan." The fifth, warned dangerously.

Cerean did so, eyes narrowed. "What?" The fifth asked, mockingly. "You're surprised I know what you are? One of yours has come into our woods before." He sneered. "And I know how your kind behave." Josie covered her tightly shut eyes as she hung upside down, hair splaying towards the ground, hands muffling her plea to please not to eat her.

"Dogwood..." Chinaberry said the trees name with reprimand.

"Quiet" Dogwood demanded, eyes firmly on Cerean for any further move. "We will not give you what you came for." He assured. Cerean eyed him, a scowl on his face, the muscles on his arms bulging with the desire to blast this tree out of existence.

"...As you say," Cerean agreed through clenched teeth. "But release the girl to me." Dogwood seemed to be taken aback by the Saiyan's apparent interest in the safety of the young girl. He took a secondary look at the girl, studying her curiously; she wasn't a Saiyan and he knew that, though he'd initially considered the possibility, her lack of cruelty had immediately dismissed that notion.

"I accepted as a courtesy because we are in King Yemma's territory," Cerean angering voice added. "But do not mistake it for more," He warned hotly, "The courtesy is fleeting."

"You dare to threaten me, boy?" Before he could do much more than blink, Dogwood quickly lashed out for Cerean's legs and arms, binding him completely up to his neck in tightening vines. Josie's hands immediately came away from her face, surprised to find Cerean hanging upside down beside her, bound and struggling to breathe.

"Hey!" She finally lashed out, angrily, smacking the threatening sharp branch away. "Why are you doing this! leave him alone!" Flapping her fists rashly, Dogwood raised a brow, setting her down once he realized how little of a threat she was, using that extra branch to wrap an extra vine around the Saiyan. "STOP IT! Come-on!" She tried to reason, as she nervously looked at all the enormous _talking_ trees around her who eyed her. "He's only trying to take care of me! please let him go," She turned, looking desperately at the female tree, Chinaberry for help, having quickly realized she would be the most compassionate of the five.

Chinaberry looked at her guiltily. "Just like Dogwood is trying to take care of us," She tried to explain softly. "A saiyan came to our home and destroyed us all once, if it were not for the man from the planet earth, we would have ceased to exist." Josie's brows drew down as she tried to recall this particular storyline, shaking her head in frustration as nothing came to mind.

"What did the Saiyan look like?" She asked, looking between all of them.

"Like that guy," Buckeye offered, nervously. "But his face was more strangely shaped, and he had long hair." Josie's eyes narrowed even more.

"How long? Black armor, brown tail, stupid voice, laughs a lot, black spikey hair that went down to here?" She asked, pointing to the back of her kneecaps. Receiving a nod from four of them, Josie shook her head. "Radditz, really?" Scoffing, Josie momentarily glance at the ashen looking Cerean, gulping. "T-the man from planet earth! did he look kind of similar to this other guy?"She asked impatiently, frantic to get Cerean down.

"Now that you mention it, he did somewhat, but much more handsome in his orange gi," Chinaberry acceded with a nod.

"Goku, a friend of mine." Josie added. "This is a misunderstanding, please let him go." She asked Dogwood, who held tightly, a quickly passing out Cerean. "He won't hurt you, I promise!" Realizing her pleas were falling on deaf ears, Josie went directly to Dogwood, shoving at his massive trunk. "He's only here for me, come-on, you jerk!" Dogwood's frown remained as he studied the weakened Saiyan.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally complied and let him drop to the ground with a thud. Josie rushed to his side, kneeling on the ground and quickly checked his pulse. After a beat, she rolled her eyes, realizing the absurdity of what she was trying to do and sighed, leaning back on her calves and glaring at Dogwood.

"You make me happy I cut real trees for Christmas." She spat out, angrily - though completely lying. "He was only trying to protect me."

"He came for the fruit, he said as much himself." Dogwood dismissed, branches crossing across his trunk, unmoved by the girls righteous anger. Josie's brows twitched with confusion, looking down at Cerean unsure if that was true, but considering that possibility.

"I found the kite!" Bladdernut cried out joyously, producing a very large blue kite from his leaves. "It's a lil' dusty with lack of use, but like this ole trunk, it'll rise right back up!"

"BLADDERNUT!"

Bladdernut blinked, "What?"

"I can't believe I'm related to you..." Beech muttered to himself miserably.

Dogwood ignored their banter, "I'll forgive this blatant invasion of our home and let you walk away free, but you need to leave now." Dogwood cautioned. Josie face fell as she looked at Cerean's unconscious body with dread. She scooted closer and lightly slapped his cheek.

"Come-on Cerean," Josie mumbled desperately. "We have to get out of here, I can't carry you, Cerean, please get up."

"I can throw him for you if you'd like," Beech offered smugly.

"Hush." Chinaberry chided quietly, feeling terrible for the lovely young girl.

"Wake up..." Josie urged quietly, ignoring them. When she saw nothing happening, she swallowed with difficulty and put his arm around her shoulder, refusing to leave him at the mercy of these mean trees. She struggled to get to her knees and only managed to plant one foot on the ground, shaking with the effort to lift the solid muscle'd Saiyan.

She gritted her teeth, face red as she strained.

"Chinaberry..." Buckeye requested softly, Chinaberry looked at him for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

She reached up into her beautiful orange leaves and Dogwood immediately roared.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Dogwood demanded. Chinaberry looked over at him, unaffected.

"You know I allow for most of your requests, little brother," The elder tree said decisively. "I appreciate your effort to protect our family, but the attack from the Saiyan was a long time ago and this is MY decision. Not yours." Excitedly, Buckeye quickly scooped up the confused Josie and lifted her up towards Chinaberry's kind face. The gentle natured female tree presented her with a bright and sparkling fruit that resembled a pear in shape but was orange and softer.

"Here you are, little one." She offered kindly. Josie eyed it with apprehension.

"You're not drugging me, are you?" Josie asked suspiciously. Chinaberry softly shook her head, a tinkling laugh bursting out when leaves landed all over Josie again- who shook wildly to get them off this time, offering her a small hesitant smile of her own, as she took the fruit.

"Thank you." She said quietly with a small head bow. "I'm actually pretty hungry," She admitted sheepishly, taking a generous bite of the juicy fruit.

Immediately Josie felt every inch of her stomach happily receive the tingling juices of that fresh bite. She closed her eyes blissfully, never having tasted anything so delicious and sweet.

_I must have been really hungry_, she thought, eager for more. She took a secondary bite and Chinaberry laughed once more.

"One bite is all you need, child." She assured. Josie wiped her mouth with the back of her mouth, unable to help but pout a little, as the fruit was taken away from her.

In a few seconds though, she found Chinaberry to be absolutely right. She STILL felt like she was eating it and she closed her eyes, leaning back into the gradually folding tree branch, to revel in the sensation.

"I think you put her into a delicious fruit coma, Chinaberry." Buckeye chuckled as he scooted the girl down on the ground and helped her lean back onto his trunk to rest while the fruit continued its effects.

"I may not use my fruit often, but it always stays fresh and it always tastes delicious." To the side, an anxious Bladdernut twitched miserably.

"OH COME-ON!" He shouted finally, "HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO SAY NOTHING AT THAT?!" Rolling her eyes, Chinaberry turned her attention back to the sighing girl whose eyes were still closed.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, amused. Josie's eyes opened, a new light sparkling in them.

"Good." She moaned happily as she stretched and stood up. "Very good." She decided. "Relaxed...strong." She added laughing at the silly choice of word.

"Nah, that's 'bout right." Bladdernut agreed, taking Josie quickly from her waist and throwing her in Buckeye's direction, who only raised his eyes to look with amusement as Josie went through the air, gasping. She reached for one of his branches, muscles tightening as the momentum attempted to keep her moving but her grip remained firm on the swaying branch; Once the swaying slowed, Josie opened her eyes, blinking.

"Bladdernut is a jerk and threw you up... feel free to come down any minute, you're tickling me." Buckeye wrinkled his nose. Josie immediately decided she needed to do just that and awkwardly attempted to carefully shuffle her hands in the direction of the center of the tree, so that she could climb down. "Ooh that's horrible, that's tickling me worse!" Buckeye groaned. "You can jump down, I promise!" Buckeye laughed.

"You can come do that on me if ya want!" Bladdernut's familiar voice sounded from outside the leaves, Josie rolled her eyes, but nervously decided to take the risk and do as Buckeye asked. Taking a deep breath, she dropped herself down onto the branch below and tentatively swung to a next one down, effortlessly. She exhaled a laugh of disbelief as she did this all the way down easily in a few seconds, until she landed on the ground, with all eyes on her.

She turned to look at Chinaberry in awe. "...Did I eat one of Yemma's fruits?" She asked in astonishment, that being the only possibility she could think of that made any sense at all.

Chinaberry nodded with a smile, "Ensenji." She called it. "Enjoy it, but use it wisely." Josie attempted to swallow moisture into her painfully dry throat, remembering what this fruit did. She nodded dumbly.

"Thank you." She said in awe. "I was so hungry and tired and I feel..." She shook her head, smiling. "Thank you!"

"I think it was a stupid thing to do." Dogwood glowered unhappily, "But I meant it when I said I needed you and your Saiyan to leave our home." Josie nodded immediately, hurrying to Cerean's side and putting his arm around her shoulder again, still amazed when she was able to lift him off the ground.

"Thank you again." Josie repeated, adjusting Cerean's arm around her small shoulder. "I'm sorry about what Radditz did your family," Josie said to Dogwood sincerely. "I can assure you he never escapes to hurt people again, and although most Saiyans are that way," She admitted. "Cerean works for King Yemma and he's an honorable man, he wouldn't hurt you. Thank you for sparing us." She said with a bright smile. "We'll go now."

"Hey girl what's say you leave on a high and take a ride on me." Bladdernut offered, grinning. Josie rolled her eyes, giving him a burning look. "What!" He shouted defensively at everyone who glared, holding up his large blue kite as a shield.

"Ya filthy minded husks! I meant the kite would be easier!" Muttering to himself, Bladdernut got to work on the kite as Josie brought Cerean closer to the tree, curious as to what he was doing. Bladdernut reached over to his brother on his right, Beech, and cut off one of his sturdy branches, making him cry out angrily.

"What the hell'd ya do that for?" Beech demanded angrily.

"Put a root in it..." Bladdernut mumbled, as he focused on his task. He maneuvered that branch to fold at two corners and attached it to the kite to make it into a hand glider. "You down?" Bladdernut asked, challengingly with a grin as he offered for her to get in.

Nervously, Josie went and was helped by Bladdernut, who put Cerean against the wooden bar and wrapped the end of the bar around their waists securely, as well as between their legs a few times.

He backed his branches a fraction and let Josie make any necessary adjustments. "This...this may actually work, thank you." Josie blinked with surprise as she studied his craftsmanship with admiration.

Bladdernut sighed with contentment, a lazy smile on his face.

"I got mine outta it, so don't you worry." He grinned mischievously. Josie eyed him wearily.

"...I think I know a white bearded bald man back home that you'd get along really well with..."

A few minutes later, they were set to go.

"You ready?" Buckeye asked eagerly, as he drew Josie and Cerean - who were in the kite - further back in the air. Josie hugged Cerean around the chest as far as she could reach more tightly, and closed her eyes, nodding.

"Do it!" She squeaked, nerves pounding away at her fragile bravery.

In seconds the kite was thrown into the air and Josie screamed at the rushing sensation as the make-shift hand glider arched in the air and evened out into a smooth glide over the beautiful vista. Her eyes bugged out at the sheer size of the forest that she'd foolishly thought she would be able to cross in hours; She now realized it would have taken days to get where they needed to go by going on foot.

She grinned down at Cerean's unconscious form.

"Sneaky bastard." She mumbled, laughing. His plan was to shut her up by doing 'what she wanted' knowing fully well that they wouldn't reach their supposedly dangerous destination before the others wished her back with the dragon balls.

That had been a crafty plan- she had to give it to him.

_Little does he know! _Josie laughed and hollered into the air excitedly as she leaned her body purposefully to the side, a twinkle of determination in her eyes at just how **close** she was to reaching her goal.

* * *

Next chapter/Preview_: The cake is a lie_

* * *

"You just have to go out there and say the name of the spirit you wish to talk too, no matter what spirit world they are in, they should appear." Josie immediately felt a tug back at her leg and she looked down seeing Cerean's spirit shaking his head furiously for her not to do this.

"I'll be careful." Josie promised him with a smile.

* * *

**Thank you's**:

**Thomas Drovin**: Oh you're absolutely right, I can't think that a mother would see such a change in her son (having him loose interest in random dates/being on the phone all the time and now hanging at his best friend's house who happens to have female guests). It's been a great big change for this group of teenagers, and their moms have a lot of hopes for them!

**Oneira.x**: Sometimes I find myself having a little too much fun with the adventures and I am so thankful when people remind me why they like this story, the humanity! I'll have fun here and there but always try to stick close to this, because I secretly love it too!

**buzzk97:** Poor Trunks, I know he's been a debbie downer, but I keep thinking of what he's gone through and how tough he must have been on himself, we've seen how hard Vegeta has railed on himself when he thinks hes failed, I feel like he likely passed on some of that to his son, except Trunks has the added disadvantage of his human emotions on top of them. And as for Cerean ^_^ I remain silent!

**jomama25**: Thank you so much for leaving a review! I love your name, I felt so stupid for having to say that out loud to realize what I was reading lol. I love it, and I am so glad you're enjoying it.

**lucency**: Oh yes! I love hearing from you, thank you so much for that, I really hope you like this chapter because I had so much fun writing all the chaos in it :)

**RosesMoon:** Thank you thank you thank you! I sincerely appreciate that.

* * *

**Note**: I really hope you guys like this chapter because I had so much fun writing all the craziness from Montgomery to the talking trees. Who was your favorite tree? I had a hard time deciding, but I think I'm torn between Dogwood and Bladdernut lol.


	40. Chapter 40: The Cake is a Lie

**Disclaimer**:I do not own db/z/gt or any video game company. Obviously the cake is not mine, Portal folks own it but, I kept thinking, portals, what do I think of when I think of portals and BAAM! Title for the chapter. It fits, I like to think, things aren't quite as you expect sometimes and that's what uh... never-mind, read on! ;)

**Credit:** to the video game Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, even though I never played you, I had a ton of fun taking aspects of your game and making them my own :)

**Dude Where's my world**

Revised

**Chapter 40**: The cake is a lie

The first thing Cerean became aware of was the taste of mild copper in his mouth, he swallowed that down with disgust as he tried to blink the blurriness his visions away.

"_Now...I'm going to need you to trust me and not get mad at me when I do this._" Cerean heard Josie's light voice request with amusement. He frowned at that suspicious statement, forcing his eyes open; the shadow of her face over him clearing into the happy expression of the mystifying girl. She smiled brightly. "Did you hear what I said?" Josie asked him curiously.

He could tell his head was on her lap now, and with confusion, he looked around seeing that they were still in Yemma's Forest but somewhere completely unfamiliar.

That's when he spotted it. The black portal.

His eyes widened and as he started to spring up, Josie grimaced, pushing Cerean forcefully off her lap and into the portal without a moments hesitation.

She sighed as she began to pick herself up, dusting off her hands.

"I reallllllly didn't want to do that before I explained," She groaned unhappily, as she eyed the portal with a new smile. "But you'll be fine, Cerean." She promised. "We're just going on one more adventure before its time to go home, buddy."

...

"Uugh this is so stupid, Bra." Bra stopped combing Valerie's hair for a moment and Valerie felt a pang of guilt. Bra was trying. She was trying so hard to be cheerful for her and pretend everything was ok so that they could go downstairs and celebrate Valerie's birthday with the others, and here she was grumbling about getting a comb run through her hair.

"..." Valerie sighed, irritated with herself, knowing she'd had a short fuse lately. "I'm sorry, please, you know better about my dumb hair than I ever will. Its stupid shinier and smoother when you do it." Bra faintly smiled at that, and gently continued.

"I'm sorry it got out about your birthday." Bra sympathized sincerely.

"Me too." Valerie shook her head. "It was no ones fault but mine anyway, I was the one stupidly talking to myself about how terrible it was that we had to spend my birthday so far from everyone, and of course, Pan hears it, her mom soon finds out, her grandma. Next thing I know..." She gestures towards the slightly open door where they could hear loud preparations for the small impromptu birthday party.

"Ready to go?" Bra asked calmly, as she finished combing through the last tangles in Valerie's hair. Both girls walked silently down the stairs, where Videl waited with a tender smile and a silly party hat tied around her head to the bottom of her chin.

"I'm sorry we couldn't do more." She apologize preemptively, gesturing towards the dinning room. Valerie pushed through the door and saw a small "Happy Birthday" banner hanging on a wall: Chichi, Pan, Giru, and Hercule stood around the table where a small cake was, with similar party hats, cheering when she came in the room.

"Happy Birthday!" They all shouted in unison, a party hat put quickly on her own head, tying it underneath her chin.

Valerie smiled sadly. "Thank you, everybody." She said patiently, as they ushered her into a chair in front of the cake.

"We know its not much," Chichi started, lighting the candles one by one. "But we did this to let you **both **know that we care very much for you and we're here for you throughout all of this." Valerie glanced at Bra who was also ushered into a seat, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah!" Hercule shouted enthusiastically. "You may be the weakest runt at my dojo, kid, but you're always welcome!" Groaning at that, Valerie placed her forehead on the table as the others shared a light laugh.

...

It was like having the breath sucked right out of your lungs for a few seconds, Josie thought, before she landed right down onto her feet with enough momentum to push her hands down to the ground too.

She shook her hands out quickly to the side as she stood up, grinning as she caught sight of her still in tact arms- thankful to see she had been right; she had gotten to keep her body down here too.

"Phew." She exhaled powerfully, able to admit now that she had been nervous with the possibility that her calculated guess could have been wrong. Then she'd be a little while fluffy thing stuck down... finally remembering where she was supposed to be, Josie's mouth dropped open in awe as she took in the hall she was in. This place was huge. There were four white walls around her, but they seemed to infinitely go up.

And no one was there.

That had been the last thing she'd been expecting. Confused, Josie began to walk forward, unnerved, the only sounds in the entire room were her shoes clinking on the ground.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed, nervously.

Faintly she began to hear running footsteps pounding across the room in her direction. She nervously looked around, unsure if she should hide, or _where_ since the room had nothing but white creepy walls. Faintly, she began to make out someone running towards her from the opposite side of the faded room. She squinted as she waited, the form of a sweating short green ogre wearing business clothes became clearer. He finally got to her, standing a few feet away as he attempted to catch his breath, sweat running down his curly brown hair.

"What are you doing here?!" He demanded between gulps of air. "No one bodied is supposed to down here!"

"...I'm looking for a friend." She said. The ogre looked at her as if he didn't believe a word she was saying, and quickly reached for her wrist.

"We have to get you out of here before King Yemma finds out you're down here." Josie immediately pulled back, getting out of his grasp.

"I can't leave until I find this friend." She said passionately.

"You're killing me lady!" He shouted, nervously. Josie crossed her arms, not intending on backing down. "...FINE!" He growled, as he reached for his scanning gun attached on his hip. Josie tensed but the ogre didn't notice, continue to mutter to himself unhappily as he typed keys in to open up a screen.

"..Are you going to tell Yemma?" Josie asked nervously, receiving only a glare.

"You think I want to be the one to tell King Yemma about this?" He asked rhetorically, annoyance ringing clear in his voice. "What's the name of the soul you're looking for?" Josie thought long and hard about that.

She really wanted to say Bardock, but the fact that she hadn't landed next to Cerean really concerned her, and immediately his name sprang from her mouth. The ogre frowned at the name as he typed in commands and read the response back.

"..Sorry lady, I don't see that name in our database. When was he condemned here?"

"He wasn't." Josie said quickly. "He travelled through a portal, and it was just ten minutes ago." The ogre scratched his head as he looked behind him.

"He's probably on the other side of this room then, there's nothing but ancient spirits here." He explained, gesturing around them. Josie followed his arms, confused.

"Where exactly?" Josie asked. "I thought this place would be swarming with spirits."

"It is." The ogre insisted, walking over his left until he reached one of the infinite walls, patting it easily. "They're here." Josie's eyes widened as she stared at the murky white wall. "Don't stare too long." He advised. "You can sometimes see eyes, its a bit unsettling." Josie paled.

"They're i-in the walls?" She asked horrified.

"Yes ma'am!" The ogre said with a smile. "This side of the room has many bad spirits from before Age." Gulping, Josie looked away.

"And... they just...stay in the walls forever?" The ogre nodded.

"Yes." He said simply. "Its their punishment. After the havoc they've wreaked throughout the universe, entrapment like this, where they can't even move an inch, touch, feel, just exist, aware but unable to ever even cry out, is.."

"Torture." Josie whispered, hands shaking. "Help me find Cerean!" She demanded, grabbing the front of his shirt in a clenched hand, panicked. "He works for Yemma, he came here accidentally because of me, help me." The ogre managed to pry himself off of her grip and nodded, leading her down the infinitely long corridor.

Josie began to loose her patience the more white walls she saw, imagining Cerean being scared and confused with no way out. Josie found herself beginning to run forward, past the calm and slow ogre. "Can we move it a little? I need to get my friend out." Seeing no urgency or intention of moving faster than a brisk walk, Josie took the scanner quickly away from the ogre's hip and ran for it, heart racing with fear.

"HEY!"

"I'll give it back, I promise!" She shouted back, as she sped up, easily outrunning the ogre and fumbling with the machine as she ran, cursing when she realized the machine read in Japanese.

"Where the hell is Valerie when I need her!" Josie growled angrily, slowing to fumble with the stupid buttons when she was sure she was far enough away from the ogre. A yellow light began to emanate from the gun's tip and Josie instinctually turned the light towards her face, grimacing at how bright it was. The machine immediately began to beep loudly and the light turned red.

"Ok..." Josie mumbled, confused as she turned the machine to read the screen. "Clearly you don't like what I am..." She continued to walk, pointing the gun at a wall, blinking when she noticed numbers ringing on the screen. "These look like years.." She noted, pleased. "Is that how you're organized?" She asked it, grinning, happy that she was finally getting somewhere. she continued run and occasionally would stop to point the gun and see how far along she was.

She sighed as she slowed down once more and held up her gun to a wall, groaning when she read the year 50.

"I'm sorry Cerean," Josie muttered, troubled at how truly infinite this place seemed. "I'm coming though, buddy." She swiped at the sweat on her brow, frowning at the endlessly hall, one foot pulling behind the other and bending at the knees. Hands at her side, her muscles tensed in a moment right before she took off with a grunt down the hall, sprinting as fast as her body would allow her, face etched in determination.

...

Goten sat on a rock, watching sympathetically as Puchi said his pain filled goodbye to the strange man they'd found on Babidi's ship. The two had formed an interesting bond over the last few days.

"Hey little bro," Gohan greeted, coming up to him and putting an arm around him.

"Be careful dad," Goten called out as their father walked by them, giving them both a smile. He nodded at Goten's words and gave them a small wave as he walked towards Puchi and the mystery man. "What do you think, Gohan?" Goten asked, sighing with uncertainty, as his father crouched down and attempted to cheer up the little Namekian who firmly held on to one of the mystery man's hands.

"Puchi likes him." Gohan pointed out as a reason. Goten nodded at that.

"That's true. He's just so..."

"Different?" Gohan offered up, looking down at his brother with a soft smile. "Remember Goten, we're not very normal ourselves, are we? neither are any of our friends." Goten gave him that one.

"He just doesn't talk, how does Puchi even communicate with him?"

"Namekians are natural telepaths," Gohan gently reminded. "Piccolo has that ability, as well." Gohan watched the scene with a smile as Goku happily high five'd the little boy, standing up to his full height and offering another of those trademark Son Goku smiles to the silent warrior, who nodded back at him. The man put a hand briefly on the little boys head, before stepping away with Goku.

"I'll see you boys real soon!" Goku called back to his family, giving them one more wave, before putting a hand on the stranger's shoulder and putting two fingers to his forehead.

"Bye dad." Gohan said quietly, proud of his selfless father who'd was taking on the task of taking this strange man to his home planet to reunite with his planet's people and restore whatever damage had possibly happened there, all of them unaware of what Babidi had done.

"Did Goku already leave?" Bulma asked as she approached the two boys.

"Yeah, he's gone." Gohan offered up. "Anything else we need to do before heading back, Bulma?" Bulma shook her head.

"Not a thing, Elder Moori says we've done more than they could have ever dreamed of, as did that strange guy, whoever he was." Bulma commented dismissively. "But as soon as Vegeta and Trunks bring back the last two dragon balls, we're all ready to go back home." She said excitedly.

...

She didn't know how long she'd been running, but Josie didn't care, she slowed down once more, perspiration dripping down the sides of her head, a frown of concentration on her face as she raised up her gun to look at then next dates, as she attempted to catch her breath. She'd found that whenever she pulled the trigger of her gun, her gun would beep once in confirmation and the scanner light would turn green.

She'd pieced together what Cerean had explained to her before at the blood lake, about spirit monitors being able to catch any spirits that didn't belong there. The ogre she'd stolen this gun from before must have been a spirit monitor, and this device, was likely what he used to check 'stock' on the spirits and make sure they had the correct ones here; when she'd turned the gun on herself, the gun had immediately spurted out an error message, indicating she wasn't in the database and did not belong here.

So in theory, she thought, as she pulled the trigger and continually scanned the gun on the wall, this thing should tell her when she found a spirit that didn't belong here. She screamed happily when the blasted gun finally found an error on the wall, after an eternity later, and she eagerly read the screen with wide eyes.

Then they fell, confused. "Izno..?" She read aloud, confused. The machine continually asked her if she wanted to retrieve the incorrect spirit from the wall and she mulled it over. If the spirit had accidentally ended up in the wall, whoever he was, she should bring him out, right? it could take forever for someone else to catch it, if the slow pace of the ogre from before was any indication.

Shrugging, she engaged the release for that spirit and she watched in amazement as a white spirit form began to pull their way out of the wall, landing on the ground with a thump on the ground. It slowly got up and turned to look at her with a name tag tied around its formless spirit...neck? its little tiny eyes frowning as it saw her, the spirit created a fist that it angrily shook at her, as it squawked and made high pitched little unintelligible noises of complaints, leaving Josie surprised.

"Uh...I'm not sure why who you are or why you're so mad, little guy, but I gotta go..." Josie ignored the angry little spirit who continued to bump into her back, angrily ranting. "Weird little marshmallow.." Josie mumbled , unperturbed, as she focused her attention on scanning the walls again, for another spirit.

She was at it for another twenty minutes before she finally found him. "YES!" She shouted joyously, turning around to pick up the still angry spirit beside her, spinning him around and giving him a big kiss. "We found him, angry marshmallow!" Josie dropped the once more angrily animated little spirit, and turned back to the wall, touching it briefly. "I'm sorry, my friend," She said sincerely, "But I'm here now." She happily grinned as she keyed in the command to release the spirit from the confines.

And out he came. Josie got down on the ground, ignoring the angry spirit bumping her side as **her** little spirit pal stood up, a similar cardboard cutout with his name around his neck, reading 'Cerean' Josie smiled broadly.

"Hey you." She greeted fondly. The little spirit frowned at her and she laughed. "Oh come-on, not you too!" Hearing the mention of someone else, Cerean's spirit turned to look at the aggressive Izno attacking Josie's shoulder, and instantaneously tackled him off in a moment, making Josie laugh.

"Oh I missed you." Josie said with a sigh, happily. She stood up as the two squawking spirits argued, trying to figure out how to go about finding Bardock's spirit.

"Hello..?" Josie turned, both spirits stopping their squawking to look at the newcomer.

Josie grinned, recognizing the female tourist guide from before. "I thought I recognized you." The lovely red ogre said with a laugh. "Hello again, I'm glad to see you're okay. I never got to introduce myself before, my name is Suke" Josie nodded, approaching the blonde ogre with a clipboard.

"What are you doing down here?" Josie asked, surprised to see her.

"Tourist guide seemed a little dangerous to me after that whole situation, so I asked to be transferred down here." Suke explained. "The problem is I'm one of the three ogres a little ways from here, who could hear and see you." She gestured towards her male colleagues off in the distance. "I'm sorry to tell you but you scared them, and they called security so they're on their way to get you out of here, but I thought I recognized you so I decided to come see what you were doing." Josie's stomach bottomed out at that.

"I just wanted to see a spirit down here and I was going to leave myself."

"Well..." Suke said politely with a smile. "Looks like you found two." Gesturing to the two behind her.

"Those don't belong here though." Josie explained, glancing back at the angry duo.

"And neither do you." Suke gently reminded her, taking the scanner gun out of her hands. Josie looked embarrassed at that.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I guess I just... I'm sorry." Suke's smile remained.

"You really helped me up there with my tour group." Josie shrugged it off. "No, I really appreciate it. You saved them and you kept me calm in the face of some very dangerous prisoners. Maybe..." Suke looked over her shoulders at her colleagues. "We won't have long, but maybe I can help you find who you're looking for. Come-on." She said mischievously, typing something into the scanner gun and pulling the trigger at the wall, a door appearing. She grabbed Josie by the hand and quickly went to the door and opened it, leading them all in before the others got to them.

Breathing heavily with exhilaration, the female ogre grinned at Josie's reaction of the room they were in. It was gray and circular all around; they stood on a square platform by the door but the rest of the room had only small **separated** pieces of octagon shaped little surfaces in a cluster in the middle, that still required small jumps to get from one piece to the next piece. The octagon shaped surfaces went all the way down until they melded into the pitch black below, and across the room from her, Josie could see a large dark gray/purple mist slowly turning, shrouding most of that side of the room in a cloudy mass.

"W-what is this place?" Josie asked nervously, finding the two boy spirits quietly staring in awe too.

"We cannot extract spirits that belong down here or from anywhere for that matter, without specific authorization from King Yemma or above, BUT we can talk to them through this room." Suke explained. "Are you sure you wish to do this?" Suke asked, nervously. Josie nodded. "Alright." She conceded. "Be careful, because once that spirit touches the platform, they become temporarily corporal, okay?" Josie nodded. "You just have to go out there and say the name of the spirit you wish to talk too, no matter what spirit world they are in, they should appear." Josie immediately felt a tug back at her leg and she looked down seeing Cerean's spirit shaking his head furiously for her not to do this.

"I'll be careful." Josie promised him with a smile. She arched a brow when she felt the other little spirit pushing her in the direction, seeming like he hoped she would fall to her doom. "You're a bitter little spirit, aren't you?" She asked him, chuckling as the two began to fight again.

She took a deep breath and exhaled it out in a gust, nervously. "I can do this." She mumbled to herself, taking a first careful step into an octagon. Good first step. She raised her arms slightly to her sides for balance as she did it again, and again, and again. Quietly talking to herself about not looking down past the octagons she continued forward, only glancing up when she heard the mist start to swirl and shift.

"You're doing great!" Suke shouted, hands cupped around her mouth. Josie continued carefully jumping, wiping the sweat on her eyebrows, distractedly. She could finally see only two more octagons that she had to jump on before she reached the edge where the final elevated octagon was. Refusing to look back and psych herself out, she jumped the two more spots and stood on the slightly elevated piece, staring up at the clouds, grinning.

"Bardock!" She said loudly. Immediately the walls she could see were scanned by this quickly moving vertical white glow that scanned left to right all the way around her. Josie turned with it, seeing it go twice around before stopping at the door where the female ogre frowned.

"That spirit isn't here!" Suke shouted out. Josie frowned at that, confused, she'd been told by multiple people that all dead Saiyans were down in this specific realm.

"...I don't understand." She mumbled. She turned back to the mist. "King Vegeta!" She finally called. The glow came back and after the first scan through, the clouds began to shift more dramatically, opening a way in the middle, a light blue spirit developing the shape of a man.

Josie stared in awe. He didn't have a body, he was still a spirit but she could tell it was him. The King frowned at her, staring down at himself.

"Who are you and what do you want." Josie scratched her head, sweat dropping as she tried to think of what to say to this booming voice imposing figure.

As soon as the figure of the King stepped down from the cloud onto Josie's octagon, Cerean grew nervous and quickly began to hop one octagon over another to get to her, slowly turning back into a bodied man.

"Uh oh!" Suke cried out, as the door began to shake. She held on to the doorknob quickly and turned to the others, panicked. "You don't have much time! HURRY!"

Josie spotted Cerean dashing towards her to make sure she was ok, and suddenly a thought hit her as hard as a punch to the stomach, what was she doing? She didn't need this.

Cerean did.

She quickly turned to the King who'd stepped down to her. "Your son and your grandson are amazing and so powerful." She told him quickly. "You should be incredibly proud of your legacy of **Super Saiyans**." She could tell she'd caught him off guard, but she pushed at his chest, desperately wishing she could tell him more, dissipating him into a cloud again. Cerean finally got to her, frown lines marring his brows, as he took her by the shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking her over. He knew his King far better than she did and he knew he was not a patient or careful man, he would have had no qualms about pushing the girls off of the cliff just because he could.

"I'm fine, Cerean!" She dismissed quickly, nudging him forward. "Say her name right now!" Josie demanded quickly, eyes shining happily at the huge opportunity for him. "Speak to your fiancee one more time!" Cerean's eyes clouded over in confusion, and he remembered the conversation they'd had about mates, is that what this was all about?

He rolled his eyes at the thought of his near mate, he couldn't have cared less about that woman if he'd tried.

But...

He eyed the clouds for a moment, not wanting to get his hopes up. "Come-on!" Josie urged fiercely, seeing the look in his eyes. "I'm sorry - I should have given you the entire two minutes, I didn't think about it clearly, but please! I'll help her stall, now go and talk to her!" Josie jumped as quickly as she dared, back to the original platform, leaving an astounded Cerean behind, who finally turned to look back at the swirling large clouds.

"Auberjene." He whispered.

And for the first time, _in a long time,_ Cerean felt nervous.

...

Josie put her own hands around the doorknob and pulled with all her might to keep it closed, feeling the little Izno beside her trying to do the same for them. Josie gritted her teeth, out of breath, she glanced back over her shoulder and nearly fell back at what she saw.

It wasn't a beautiful woman at all.

But a young girl of maybe ten years forming in the clouds.

Josie continued to yank on the door, looking back at Cerean with confusion. "I don't understand." She shouted, groaning with the effort to keep the door closed. Suke looked over her shoulder at Cerean too.

"The platforms bring a person back to their real form, no matter what it is, its why your friend is normal right now." Josie shook her head, the ogre not having understood her exclamation at all. Josie continued to glance over her shoulder, confused as to what was happening, but feeling her heart squeeze a fraction when the small girl eagerly hugged Cerean.

She'd never seen that expression on his face before.

She may not have understood what was going on, but she knew that regardless of what Cerean may have said earlier,** this** little girl was the one who held his heart. Not his fiancee.

"It's slipping!" Suke warned, a pained expression on her face. Josie wishes desperately she could have given him more time, but she felt the door pull back, and saw the little girl with Cerean disappear for a second, before she was yanked into a bright hallway.

...

"_One more, Mom._" Trunk's passionate voice said through his mother's watch. Bulma's eyes teared happily.

"I'm so proud of you son, be safe and get back as soon as you can." Bulma said encouragingly, grinning at the others who were listening, with a thumbs up, as most of the Z gang ate and rested around a campfire near the ship on what they assumed would be their last hour here.

"_Dad is hauling tail to it too, so I gotta go, I just thought I'd let you know._"

"Thank you, Trunks, I can't wait." Jumping up happily, Bulma cheered while the others smiled, ready and eager to have this trip completely behind them.

"It'll happen on her birthday..." Goten whispered from his spot on the grass, his arms resting behind him. He grinned at that and jumped up, running towards the ship. "Gotta go!" He said to the others, jumping on the ship and running to the cockpit, hoping against hope that his mom hadn't taken Valerie out of the house they way they'd all planned. He drummed his fingers on the console as the machine made him wait for a few minutes.

He almost gave up, thinking he'd been too late, when the screen came alive with a curious Pan standing there, head tilted. She exclaimed happily when she saw his face.

"Hi uncle Goten!" She greeted happily. "Why are you calling? I thought-"

"Where is Val, Pan?" He asked eagerly.

"She's outside, Gramps is trying to talk her into hitting the Pinata he got her." Goten sweat dropped at that last visual and shook his head.

"Get her for me will you, Pan? its very important." Pan stared at him curiously but nodded, running off to the backyard where a blushing Valerie was blindfolded with a bat in her hand, the others around laughing and cheering.

"Val!" Pan shouted from the doorway, making Valerie immediately raised her blindfold, confused at the sound of urgency in the young girl's voice.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Uncle Goten is on the vid com, he says its important." Valerie ripped off the blindfold, throwing the bat to the side and running towards the house. Through the kitchen, dinning room and living room as her heart raced faster and faster. She went up the stairs as fast as she could, with Bra in tow, and made it to common area panting heavily, glaring at the laughing Goten.

"You ran over." He noted with a smile. "And Bra," He waved, happy to see the young girl. "I have great news for you guys, Josie is being wished back today." Valerie could hear Bra cheering behind her happily, and she just stared at Goten, dumbfounded, a small smile struggling to surface on her lips. Goten watched the various emotions play out over Valerie's face and his heart clenched once more, finding himself wishing he was with her.

"You're welcome." He softly whispered, knowing she heard him when her eyes began to water. Bra reached for Valerie's shoulders, hugging her gently as the teenager finally broke down and cried over the events of the last two weeks.

...

"AND STAY OUT!" An ogre shouted, a vein on his forehead as he stuck his head out of the portal he'd just thrown Cerean, Josie and Izno out of, all three of them landing on their bottoms out into sector 1 section 3 of HFIL, once more.

Where they had all originally started.

Izno was the first to recover from the shock and stood up angrily, whirling on the two others. "You two are friggin nuts! I'm outta here!" He shouted angrily, beginning to storm off.

"Oooooh," Josie exclaimed, surprised. "It's Bozo!" She realized. "That explains a lot." _Uh oh_, Josie thought for a moment as the ogre angrily turned back around, screaming with his hands in the air, as he ran as fast as he could away from them.

Cerean sighed, shaking his head, as he got up and offered her a hand. Josie grinned at his grumpy expression and took his hand, gratefully.

"I can't believe we're back where we started..." Josie laughed happily, hands on her hips. "What an adventure huh?" Cerean looked at her wearily, clapping his hands free of dirt. "Come-on! you had fun, admit it..."

"It was interesting." He corrected, as he began to walk off.

"Nu uh uh." Josie chided, as she took his wrist to stop him from going back to, likely, somewhere boring, for what she felt was the little time she had left. "We've got one more stop to make on this train ride before I go home, mister." Cerean rolled his eyes, as he allowed her to drag him towards the carnival style theme park for tourists.

...

And that's where they were, when the Z Fighters gathered together on Planet Namek and made their wishes.

Their first wish was for restoration of the planet Namek from all the destruction that had taken place there.

Their 2nd wish was for the innocent lives of those taken by Babidi and his men be brought back to life.

With arms in the air towards Porunga, Elder Mori turned back to the Z warriors behind him, awaiting their third wish."First, I want to make sure that Josie will be amongst the ones brought back." Trunks jumped in before anyone could go and make a third wish. Elder Mori turned towards the Dragon and asked him in their native language, he turned to Trunks, smiling.

"Yes, she will be among them." Satisfied, Trunks let go of a breath he was holding in.

Vegeta's fists clenched, struggling with a decision.

The girl had given him the perfect excuse to send her back to whatever dimension she came from. She'd practically thrown the option at this feet, assuring him that there were no strings attached and that he had every right to do this, in fact, he had no doubt about his right to rid himself of her. She didn't belong here and more than the other girl, she needed to go back to her world, far away from him and his family.

He could do it right now.

He could wish her away and have it be done with.

One look at his family told him...that that was no longer an option. Not after what he'd seen his son and wife go through the last couple of days. Growling at that realization, he stepped forward, facing the dragon. "Wish for the girl to come back to life on planet earth." He commanded angrily, hating this wasted opportunity.

Caught by surprise at his father's words, Trunks stepped forward to argue, but his mother held him back while Elder Mori made the wish, staring at her husband. He had his reasons, she could tell. Once the third wish was made, a blinding light made them all turn away as all three wishes came into existence.

Before there eyes, the planet looked as radiant and full of life and energy, and joyous shouts of family reunions filled their eyes as Nameks left and right found missing family members.

That could have been them, Trunks thought angrily. "Dad, why?" He asked, hurt. Vegeta glanced at his son, before staring back out into the sky, feeling frustrated himself.

"She needs time, son." Vegeta said simply, finally turning to look at his confused son and wife. "To adjust to being alive again. She doesn't need to be bombarded with memories of what's occurred on this planet." Bulma smiled brightly at her husband.

"He's right, Trunks." Bulma said gently, rubbing her sons back, as he stared at the ground despondently, nodding.

Vegeta could at least hope she landed somewhere in some field out in the middle of no where. That thought gave him comfort.

...

"Auburjene is a pretty name." Josie commented as she and Cerean slowly began to go up the ferris wheel. Cerean narrowed his eyes, knowing there had to be a reason why she'd insisted on trapping him in this stupid machine, but unfortunately for her, he could easily jump off with no problem. Josie quickly saw his intention and put her hand on his arm to stop him. "Come-on." She whined. "Don't be like that, I'm just asking. I thought...because you said that..."

"I had no interest in seeing Vera." Cerean finally answered her question. "She was merely a woman I was to mate too, attractive, yes but otherwise meaningless."

"Who is Auburjene?" She asked curiously, ignoring the lift of the ferris wheel to focus on the Saiyan before her.

"...My sister." He finally admitted with a small smirk.

Josie smiled back, leaning her elbow on the bars and resting her cheek on her fist as she attentively paid attention to him, "I had no idea." She admitted, amazed. He nodded.

"She was on my station planet with me, sent to me by my father at age five, due to her weak power level. I trained her to fight but she was not impressive, much like you." Josie only grinned at that, cheek still comfortably on her cheek as she listened to his story. "She," He emphasized, with a small but genuine smile. "Was the only woman to ever truly hold my affection." He admitted.

He turned to look at her, curious to see her reaction to that, but only found an empty space in her seat.

Cerean blinked with surprise, and swallowed the moisture in his mouth with confusion, as he stood up and scanned the area for the girl; not hearing her tinkling voice that could complain endlessly about a stupid ball, and tease a respected elder sprite about his fake spirit crystals; nor could he see that bubbly face that could stand amongst the galaxy's strongest fighters, and then stare in horror at talking trees. All to have a chance at talking to some dead guys, who she gave up on in seconds, to give _him _the opportunity to see a girl.

"The only one to ever hold my affection..." He repeated thoughtfully, as he sat down heavily on the swaying chair with a soft smile, now recognizing the fact that she was gone, and that he would likely never have the opportunity to see the enigmatic girl again.

"Until now." He allowed finally, chuckling dryly, as he shook his head his head at the never changing red sky overhead.

* * *

Next Chapter/Preview**:**_Returning Home_

* * *

_Seeing hay and tall wheat fields all around her, Josie panicked in confusion and stepped forward too quickly, tripping, and face planting onto the mud covered ground. Horrified, Josie planted her hands beside her face and pushed herself up, face caked in the horrendous stuff._

* * *

**Thank you's**

**EeveeAlchemist**: I loved them both too! to answer your question, do you ever know that feeling in dreams when you're forgetting something really obvious, like the name of something or someone? Josie had just been interacting with Cerean but in the presence of Trunks (And the others) his name disappeared from her mind. Does that mean something? maybeee ;)

**RoseMoon:** Thank you so much! I hope you liked this one too because I truly enjoyed writing it. I love Cerean, I'm pretty sad to see him go for a while :(

**Buzz97:** I remember the video game having something about trees that kept King Yemma's fruit and I kept thinking, wouldn't it be cool if they talked? if the protectors of the fruit had personalities? especially silly ones like Bladdernut's.

**Lucency:** I loved Bladdernut too! I didn't expect him to be a perv until I wrote down his dialogue and he made me laugh, so I decided to keep him as he was. And the dream to Josie was just like any dream to us, she likely forgot it as soon as she woke up! But there may be more to it!

**Narunosuke-Namikaze-Uchiha**: I'm SO happy to be answering the name question to a reader whose name I find interesting too! I love it! All the trees are actually named after different types of tree's, if you can believe that! all of em: Bladdernut, Chinaberry, Buckeye, Dogwood, and even Beech!

**Thomas Drovin:** the dream was actually just a dream - she wasn't talking to any of her pals, but did the dream mean anything? have any foreshadowing? we'll have to wait and see! but you hit the nail on the head, I think this is why I enjoyed having Josie go to other world and experience HFIL, there's so many levels to other world, so I LOVED getting to be creative with what Josie experienced there.

**Nathaneil-pryce**: I wasn't able to do anything like that this time but I would loooove to do that. I'm definitely intending a Broly interaction down the line!

**Malus the sayin:** Aaah! I love it when people read this in a day or two, its so absurdly thrilling to get someone excited about a story. Thank you so much! Please keep in touch, I hope you enjoy the story as we progress forward!

**GVLuver:** I feel inspired to sing the 'You are my sunshine' song to you at this moment ;D thank you so much. I hope this chapter was fun too! It made me a little sad but I really enjoyed it.

* * *

******Note**: I really hope you enjoyed Cerean for the few chapter he got to be a part of, I loved him when I wrote him as a 13 year old and I still love him today. I had so much fun with these HFIL chapter, I hope it showed! and though the scene with Val was small, that was a big favorite of mine too /3


	41. Chapter 41: Returning Home

**Disclaimer**: I do not own db/z/gt or anything cool like rainbows or clouds...

**Dude Where's my World**

Revised

**Chapter 41**: Returning home

Seeing hay and tall wheat fields all around her, Josie panicked, the sensation of vertigo making her step forward too quickly, tripping and face planting onto the mud covered ground. Horrified, Josie planted her hands beside her face and pushed herself up, face caked in the horrendous stuff.

"Ough." Spiting to the side, Josie hurriedly came back to her knees, trying desperately to wipe the mud off of her hands to use them to clear off face. "Stupid-cant I friggin just-" Screaming in frustration, Josie grabbed at wheat and rubbed it against her face, ignoring the sharp pricks to her skin in her attempt to wipe off the layer of mud from her skin. She spit a few more times, sulking as she stood up, realizing she wouldn't be able to get a lot of mud off until she got into a warm shower back home...

She turned around in a circle, catching on to the fact that this looked **nothing** like home. Josie grimaced at how brightly illuminated the sky was by the sun that barely seemed to produce any warmth. She was alive and on earth, that much was for sure; otherwise she wouldn't feel as gross and cold as she did. She tried in vain to swipe her hands clean on her spandex outfit, exhaling miserably, as she more carefully stepped forward through mud to further venture into the wheat field. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this confusing maze that she couldn't even see over...

"HEY!" An almost Texas sounding accented individual shouted angrily, Josie turned her head back, seeing wheats being pushed aside by... she tensed, her jaw tightening. "Hold it right there, little lady."

The barrel of a shot gun.

_You have got to be kidding me... _Josie scowled in irritation, turning slowly with her hands in the air to face him carefully, her heart hammering in her chest.

"You're on private property lady, did you know that?" Josie shook her head quietly, eyes looking at his gun.

"..." The man studied her suspiciously, gun still pointed right at her, his brown hair sticking out messily from underneath a straw hat, wearing no shirt, letting his _stylish _overalls hang down, unbuckled. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Got lost." Josie explained, eyes still fastened on the tip of the gun. "I was just looking for a way out, if you can tell me where to go, I can be out of here in a few minutes." Josie asked, trying to keep the timbre of her voice light and man continued to study her face for another few moments, before shaking his head.

"You won't be doing that quite yet." He explained calmly, gesturing the gun to the side, demanding she walk in front of him silently. Josie took a deep breath angrily, doing as he requested. What other choice did he have?

She ignored the wheat swatting at her face, only pushing at it angrily sometimes, as she continued moving forward; heart thudding in her chest, adrenaline pumping through her veins, and her mind going a million miles per hour. Was this really her luck? How could this be happening to her right now? She had _just_ come back to earth.

Distracted by her thoughts, Josie didn't immediately realize that they were no longer in the wheat fields, but on a dirt covered path that led them to a property. She stumbled on a rock and snapped out of her reverie, realizing with surprise that she was walking towards a small wooden cabin. The cabin had a small porch at the front with a singular wooden rocking chair that was occupied by a greasy young man, wearing a wife beater and blue jeans with brown boots. She came to an abrupt stop, knowing with absolute certainty that she did not want to go there - but continued forward with a grimace when she felt the barrel of the shot gun pressing into her lower spine to keep her moving.

Undisturbed by the girl's distress, the man beside her happy hollered, "Hey Jim! Lookie what I found!"

"This is so ridiculously out of place..." Josie muttered to herself angrily, as she was nudged again. What the heck were two hillbilly looking guys doing out in the middle of Japan?!

"Hey!" The man behind her drawled angrily. "What'ya go and stop for?"

"What'd you find?" Jim asked, getting off the rocking chair and lifting the brim of his own hat upward as he jogged lightly towards them. "Woooowee, look at that." He blinked, coming to a stop when Josie snarled, telling him without words, that that was close enough.

Jim grinned from his spot, temporarily respecting her wishes as he studied her appreciatively from where he stood. "Is she for me, uncle Travis?"

"She sure is." Travis affirmed with a smile, moving Josie's muddy hair out of her face so that his nephew could take a better look-laughing when Josie swatted his hand away angrily.

_Over my dead body, _Josie thought furiously, pausing with a grimace as she considered her words. _Again._ She added, nervously. If these ridiculous two deadbeats decided to kill her because she struggled - and there was no doubt in her mind that that was an inevitability at this point - would she be able to come back to life again? Or would she have to stay in other world for good? The grim thoughts filled her with paralyzing dread.

"Yehaw!" Jim whooped in the air happily, clapping his hands once and rubbing them eagerly, his green eyes shining with delight. "This is a mighty good day, isn't it? I'm gonna turn on some music so we can celebrate, uncle Travis."

"You do that boy," Travis encouraged, cocking his shot gun when he saw Josie move towards the right and aim it at her once more. "Now where do you think you're going, girl?" He asked moodily, one eye closed as he focused.

"...Getting a wedding present?" Josie offered, nervously.

"I don't think so," He snorted, lifting his gun back over his shoulder. "Let's get you locked away somewhere till you settle down." Travis reasoned, pushing the groaning Josie a few hundred feet away from the home towards a small gray shed that had a tree to its right, and a white pick-up truck parked on the right. Travis went to the right side of the shed, overstepping a hose as he went, and turned the round metal handle to bring on a spray of water from the nearby hose. He grinned at Josie who eyed him wearily. "What? Its hot, aint it?" He asked rhetorically, "You should be thanking me." He reasoned with a grin. "And you're just plain dirty, girl."

Before Josie could retort about him being one to talk, he turned on the heavy spray towards her, making her cough and sputter curses as she was hosed down from head to toe. After thirty seconds of that embarrassment, Travis led the soaking wet Josie inside the shed, locking it after her, leaving her in a barely illuminated tiny room to stare at the door in shock.

"I..." Josie took a few deep breaths, as she tried to steady her rising anger. "Am so.." She smacked the door with her open palm, making it rattle. "Tired of." She slammed her shoulder into the door, breaking a hinge. "Being LOCKED U-" She was about to hit the door again, when she thought better of it.

She needed to stop and think clearly.

What would happen if she burst out of here now? Two grown men would have guns pointed at her head in seconds, she thought, thats **what**.

She took a deep breath as she went to sit on a batch of hay with a heavy sigh, as she considered her options. "It would help if I knew where the hell I was..." And that's where Jim, her supposed future husband, found her when he finally unlocked the door and peered inside two hours later, the setting sun casting mostly shadows in the darkening room.

"Hello?" He inquired, smiling happily. "You're still in here, right?"

"...Unfortunately." A dry voice called out and the young man laughed, opening the door wider.

"Aint no need to be sad," He assured, "I'm a good man, I'll take good care of you." Josie got up from where she was sitting, and walked towards him a few feet, before Jim was able to make her out, in the darkness of the shed. She looked at him briefly before her eyes came back to the ground, walking past him.

"Good men don't kidnap nice girls" Josie reminded quietly, moving the still wet hair behind her ears.

Jim smiled at her comment, following behind her. "Well, nice girls aren't way out here on their own either, are they?" He reminded in a light retort, taking out his revolver from his holster when he noticed her glancing over her shoulder at him.

"What?" Josie asked defensively. "Isn't a girl allowed to look at her future husband?" She questioned, receiving no answer, just a point towards the little house. Josie followed his line of sight and grimaced at the thought of going** in there** with him, wondering what the heck he, and his twisted uncle, had in mind for her.

She took a shaky breath and tried to keep herself calm as she very slowly moved in the direction he wanted. "Where...is uh...here, anyway?" Josie asked conversationally.

Jim gave the back of her head a weird look. "You don't know where you are?" Josie took a chance and turned around, giving him her best sheepish look, ignoring the flash of irritation on his face at her turning his way again.

"Oh you know, I'm just... silly," She cleared her throat, looking back away. "I ran away from home and got into some trouble that led me a lot farther away than I expected to go," Josie explained, not entirely lying there. "And a lot of it has been a blur and I'm n-" Jim shook his head as she glanced at him again, and he pointed the gun straight at her forehead this time.

"You talk an awful lot, anyone ever tell you that?" Josie glared at him openly at that, from underneath the gun barrel.

"You have no friggin idea." Jim pressed the barrel of the gun on her actual skin now, smiling when the impetuous girl finally showed signs of real fear.

"Thas better." He assured with a smile. Josie shakily exhaled a hollow laugh, swallowing with some difficulty.

"S-so uh much for being a good man huh?" And just like that, Josie felt her right cheek explode with pain, as his revolver connected with her cheekbone. She felt the adrenaline spread throughout her body in defense against the pain, jaw flexing, eyes wide, as her lips quivered with pain and shock as she digested the blow.

"Jim!" Travis scolded from the doorway of the little home a few hundred feet away. "Its too soon for that, son!" Jim looked from his uncle to Josie, unhappily.

"She kept talking back, uncle Travis." He shouted back.

"She's skittish like a cat right now, Jim! you gotta let her get herself familiarized, you know?" Jim took in his uncle's words, before he finally nodded, studying Josie closely once more.

"I'm sorry bout that." He finally said, reaching into his new shirt pocket - the new shirt he'd donned on just to impress her, before she'd mouthed off - and handed her a handkerchief to wipe her bleeding lip.

Josie slowly took the handkerchief, and kept it in the hand of her shaking fist. "Come-on," He said quietly, clearing his throat. "We got duck inside, we're celebrating tonight." Jim said awkwardly, walking slightly past her.

That was his mistake.

Josie reached for his hand closest to her, which had his gun, with both her own hands, twisting it in the wrong direction as hard as she could - high into the air - letting the momentum of her body land her foot hard against the back of his knee, bringing him down to the ground instantly with an agonizing cry of pain at his shoulder attempted to dislocate. Josie twisted his arm that much harder when she landed, his body awkwardly arching up in response. Josie ripped the gun away from his hand and immediately pointed it at his recovering uncle who was just in the process of raising his own.

"DROP IT!" Josie shouted angrily, raising his nephew's arm with a slight twist, making him cry out again in pain. "I will break it you dumb, ugly, greasy, disgusting idiot-PUT IT DOWN!" She screamed.

Jaw tense and eyes vigilant, an angry Travis did exactly as Josie's shaking voice commanded.

She knew the way she looked though, Josie thought, as she swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand angrily, face throbbing with pain. She looked crazy.

And this guy wasn't going to risk his relative to battle with an unreasonable broad. And that was just fine with her, Josie thought as she looked down at the pained Jim, weighing her options.

There were still two very conscious and very **angry** males, who despite her increased stamina and strength, could likely bring her down with a gun within the next few seconds if she wasn't careful. "Kick it to me," She commanded, heart speeding up a notch as Travis flashed a grin at her.

"Wouldn't recommend kicking a shotgun with live ammunition in it." He said cheekily.

Studying him for deception, Josie finally nodded and grimaced at what she was about to do. What proceeded next was an awkward set of blows to the back of Jim's neck, as Josie attempted, failed, attempted, failed, and attempted once more, to finally successfully knock the poor Jim out, muttering embarrassed apologies with every groan he gave. "I'm just not good at this." She mumbled apologetically.

With one down, her odds were better, she knew, but the only problem now was: Travis had taken the momentary distraction to pick up his shot gun and was pointing it right at her. Josie effortlessly raised up his nephew as a body shield. "Go ahead." She dared, "You'll take him first." Travis' eyes narrowed at the threat, taking in her words carefully, before he finally shook his head.

"No," He finally said with a scowl. "You'll be letting go of him now." Josie wanted to growl in irritation, raising Jim higher and pointing the gun to the temple of his head in warning. "Game of chicken huh?" Travis asked with amusement, spitting to the side as he nodded and took a step off the porch, with the gun still pointed at her. "I'm game." He assured, grinning confidently. "You wouldn't have gone through all that effort to knock my boy out if you intended to kill him."

Josie jaw clenched, flinching at the pain that caused her throbbing cheek. Travis was right. She'd given her cards up, it was obvious she didn't want to kill this guy. "...All I want is to get out of here." She said honestly.

Travis nodded with a side smile. "I can do that for you." He promised.

_Liar_, Josie thought with a sigh.

"I'll trade you your nephew for your truck keys." Josie offered, nodding her head towards the truck to the side. Travis followed her head nod and smirked, nodding.

"Fine." He fished for the keys in his pocket as he approached her, eyes and gun still on her, smiling confidently. "Really is a pity, you kn-"

"Shut up and give me the keys." Josie demanded, nerves pushed well beyond the edge at this point. When he got just a little bit closer, Josie threw his nephew at him on the side holding his shot gun - to stop him from shooting it, and ran at him, tackling him to the ground, punching his face over and over with her free hand. She pushed herself off of him after the fourth punch, gun pointing at his face, her face pale as she studied the damage she'd inflicted with worry. "Stay down." She warned the still conscious and severely bleeding man.

He coughed violently to the side, glaring at her for a moment as he rolled back onto his back, spitting to the side. "That gun better be where I could see it, you sorry-" And sure enough, she noted it was out of his reach. She nodded, satisfied. "Can you get up?" Travis tried, groaning in pain as he came up onto his knees, and finally stumbled on to his feet slowly. "Drop those keys on the ground and take your nephew to the shed with you." Travis rolled his eyes.

"We would have treated you nice, you know."

"I'm sure you would have treated me like a Princess," Josie shouted sarcastically, "Now hurry!" Travis groaned with the effort, mumbling how he was an old man and how unfair this was, before he finally threw his nephew over his shoulder when he noticed she wasn't backing down. Josie exhaled, shoulders slumping, grateful that he wasn't too hurt.

"Don't steal anything." Travis muttered, as he marched toward the shed, and right before she closed the door on them, Josie pointed the gun at Travis with renewed annoyance.

"Tell me where the hell we are." She demanded.

"You are nutty, aren't you?" Josie shook the gun at him threateningly, tired of the snide comments. "**Louisiana,** lady! geez."

Eyes widening, Josie slammed the door closed, locking it numbly, glancing at the darkened sky now, filled with shining stars.

"Now you stay in there until I'm gone," Josie demanded over her shoulder at the door. "Or I swear by all that is- WHERE THE HELL DID YOU DROP THE KEYS, YOU DAMN OLD GOAT?" Josie yelled moodily, gun in hand as she struggled to find the keys in the barely illuminated front yard, on her hands and knees, only finding dirt and grass.

"There's a flashlight out there, I'd show you but..." Travis teased. "I cant remember from in here."

"Old man, if you don't tell me where that light is right now i'm going to bust every window in your damn house, because trust me when I say mister," She cocked the shot gun loudly. "I found your friggin shot gun and I have no problem-"

"ITS IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK!" He shouted quickly. Nodding, Josie angrily strided towards the truck, grabbing the large flash light from the back and shining it on the ground. "Did you find it?" Travis asked, humming an annoying tune to continue to gnaw at Josie's already shot nerves. Josie glared at the shed for a second before turning her attention back to the dusty ground.

A few short minutes later she wrapped her hand around it, and grinned. She threw the shot gun on the back of Travis' truck and lightly discarded the revolver on the passengers side seat when she entered the cabin of the truck, taking a deep breath and exhaling it back out with a big grin of relief on her face. She turned on the ignition, eager to get the hell out of dodge.

She heard the car stall and though it valiantly attempted to turn it, it ultimately failed, and Josie's eyes narrowed as she heard the laughter ring out from within the shed. "That old thing hasn't run in years, sweetheart!" Travis explained happily. "Poor old thing's been beat up on too much."

"Sounds like someone else I know." Josie mumbled, hands shaking with how hard she was grabbing the steering wheel. Muttering a curse under her breath, she grabbed the gun roughly and got out of the trunk, slamming the door closed with a loud bang.

"I can probably get that to work if you let-"

"SHUT UP!" Josie shouted angrily, "I need to focus, old goat!" Pacing for a few minutes in front of the pick-up truck, Josie mumbled under her breath, gun at her side.

It was dark already and she wasn't going to get far with a flash light and a gun in hand, she thought, as she rounded to pace back in the other direction. _Not to mention that shed won't hold two grown men for a whole night, and what's to stop them from coming after me then? _She considered the fact that they likely wouldn't be able to catch her unless they had another set of wheels around the property somewhere, but a quick look around told her that there was no other vehicle nearby, so for that she was grateful. She tapped her fingertips against her thighs, as she made her way towards the cabin, glancing at the shed with displeasure.

She didn't even know Capsule Corp's phone number, she thought miserably, as she stepped up to the porch; and even if she could somehow get it, how long would it be before they could send someone out for her? especially when she didn't know the town she was in, and they likely couldn't sense her ki.

"Piccolo couldn't read my mind so chances are, Dende can't either..." Josie mumbled, trying to think of any Dragon Ball Z trivia that could help get her out of this. "I just need a ride..." She mumbled as she took a seat on their rocking chair pensively.

Plane would take too long, she realized she also didn't have money for that, and even if she could get it, where was the nearest airport? Groaning, she leaned back, ignoring the rocking of the chair. She very well couldn't drive over the ocean either. Her only option seemed to be to fly, but how could she fly without anyone else's help? "Maybe I should try to fly." Josie thought aloud, looking down at her feet, hopeful now that she was stronger. She took a deep breath and sat forward, hands resting by her knees facing one another with a few inches between them as she tried to focus her energy.

A few moments of trying that, along with taking a few calming breaths, she realized how hopeless that option was. Even if she did have the power to do that, she didn't have the time, patience, or the calm to focus her energy; especially with Travis alternating between shouting his head off every few minutes and singing ridiculous songs like _My Girl_ by the Temptations loudly. Rolling her eyes as Travis burst out the chorus to the melody once more, Josie got up off the rocking chair and went inside the cabin, turning on all the lights.

It was a two bedroom house made out of wood, with a small kitchen and a simple living room that had only a television and two chairs in front of it, with no decor or anything like pictures to make it seem like a real home. "Creeps." She mumbled, finding two more guns underneath their bed. Sighing in disgust she grabbed a large black plastic bag and sat down by the bed, getting to work on removing the ammunition from the guns, leaving only a few empty toys. She smiled as she scooped up almost every knife and weapon she could find in the house and put it into the bag. When she was done with that, she felt better and took a seat outside once more, wearily staring at the silent shed; fear blooming its way through her chest.

Annoyed at how paranoid she'd become, she made her way there with her gun lifted and alert for any possible movement outside.

"Hey darling Travis." Josie called nervously. "How you doing in there?" She asked with a gulp. " Want me to bring you water? ...maybe make you a sammich?"

"Now wouldn't that be a good girl? Can you bring out a beer with that, darling?" Travis voice rang back from within the shed. Josie exhaled, her shoulders relaxing and her gun lowering with a grin, as she went to retrieve the only other loaded weapon from the back of the truck; She was uncomfortable with the thought of leaving the shot gun that close to the shed.

With both guns in each hand, she glanced up at the darkening sky, figuring she needed to get a move on if she was going to get out of here before those ominous clouds covered up what little moonlight she had now.

Her eyes widened, stopping mid step, as her eyes came back up to the sky with reawakened hope. "NIMBUS...?" She shouted, hesitantly.

"...Are you shouting to yourself now?" Travis asked from within the shed, horrified. "I'm so glad you're not awake to see this boy... your wife is plain looney"

"I'm not his wife!" Josie shouted back angrily, turning her rapt attention back to the sky with fleeting hope.

After thirty seconds of waiting, Josie sighed continuing to make her way to the cabin; Of course the stupid thing wasn't going to show up, that would mean she had luck and everyone knew she certainly didn't have that here. Josie stepped up the porch, turning around and planting her bottom on the step, attempting to take the ammo out of the gun, with a grin of amusement at her self pity. But wouldn't that have been cool though? She thought with a wistful sigh; to have the actual Nimbus cloud come to her and whisk her back to Capsule Corporation for her happy reunion with her friends. Unable to figure out how to take the ammo out from this one, Josie rolled her eyes and chose to turn on the safety instead, placing it in the bag carefully and studying her pretty new long barrel revolver, as she tried to come up with a new plan.

Hearing a noise of something cutting through air, Josie immediately lifted her gun, just as a light cloud came to a halt in front of her, sounding like a light car squeaking to a stop.

Josie took a few heaving lung filled drags of air in an attempt to catch her breath again, eyes wide, as she continued to point her gun at the cloud in utter disbelief. "...Nimbus?" She asked, shocked. "CRAPOLA, IT WORKED!" She struggled to her feet, grinning, as she patted the cloud in awe "Oh Nimbus, I'm so happy you're here! you probably are wondering who the heck I am, but I am a huge fan of your work, and I'm so happy you're here-" Josie rambled excitedly, as she scooped up the garbage/weapon bag of ammo and put it on Nimbus who easily supported the weight. "I can't wait to get home!" Josie exclaimed, clapping her hands, as she grabbed her flashlight in one hand and her revolver in the other. "I need a shower so bad. You won't believe this but they don't have showers in HFIL." Sighing happily, Josie climbed on Nimbus... and seconds later, squeaked when she fell through and onto her butt.

She stared up at it, mouth open in shock, and eyes wide as realization dawned on her.

After a few moments of awkward silence between floating cloud and simple girl from the real world, Josie glared at it.

"You would, Nimbus." She growled, dropping onto her back with a groan, little cloud happily hovering by unsure of what to do. "Can you at least do me a favor before I die again?" Josie asked the cloud, eyes glaring at it through the corner of her eye.

She took his silence as consent. "Can you at least take those weapons and ammo far away from here, so that beavis and butthead don't have it anymore?" In moments the little cloud zoomed away with the request and Josie continued to groan miserably on the grass covered ground.

Why did she have such horrible luck?

But she couldn't blame the cloud. It made sense when she thought about it, as she sat back up with a sigh. No one from her world was pure of heart the way these characters were able to be.

"_What was that noise_?" Travis asked, having heard the retreat.

"Nothing, _uncle_ Travis." Josie muttered, slowly getting back up and deciding it was time to just go. What else could she do? she wasn't safe here, that much was certain, so she at least needed to start walking away and try her luck elsewhere. "Try not to kidnap any more girls okay?" Josie warned over her shoulders. "Your boy there might get one of his own, IF he works on his clothes and that oh so charming personality of his." Ignoring the curses with a smile, Josie headed off into the crops that easily towered over here.

...

Meanwhile at Capsule Corp, Goten had unintentionally giving Valerie one of the worst birthday's of her life. He had assured the girl that Josie was being wished back that day, and yet, it was well past two in the morning, and Josie was not at Capsule Corp.

She had tried to communicate with the ship once more but found the communication system completely disabled and Bra had explained that it was likely because they were off the planet now.

"They're doing everything they can," Chichi reminded Valerie quietly, feeling sympathetic towards the stressed girl who now was pacing the living room. She'd already gone through so much and now she was forced to wait once more, unable to do anything.

Chichi was right though, they'd sent out Krillin, Videl, Pan, Giru, and 18 while Bra, Valerie, Marron and Chichi stayed at Capsule Corp to wait for their return. The two younger girls were now asleep on the two separate couches, having tried to wait.

They heard some fumbling at the door, and an exhausted looking Pan came in, getting Valerie's hopes up for a few seconds, only to send them crashing down when she walked through the door alone.

"I'm sorry." Pan mumbled, looking genuinely exhausted. "I flew around the world three times, I couldn't find her anywhere. Mama flew into me and sent me back here to sleep." Chichi nodded as she stood up.

"Yes, sweetheart, you need to get some sleep, you did wonderfully." She assured, taking her by the shoulders and starting to lead her up the stairs, sending Valerie an apologetic look, who smiled back at them. Pan was too young to be out at this hour anyway, despite her Saiyan heritage.

Valerie sat down roughly, rubbing her tired eyes.

...

She wished she'd brought a blanket, Josie thought as she continued to muddle through fields, thankful that they weren't as tall as her head anymore and the vegetation she was walking through wasn't muddy anymore. But she was freezing now.

In the mile long field, she finally found a tree and did a few jumping jacks to warm up before she decided to take a seat next to it, in hopes to receive some relief from the biting cold wind. "I wish you could talk to me." Josie commented to the tree she was resting on with a smile, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm up. "I almost miss Bladdernut right now." She definitely missed Cerean, she thought, distracting herself by looking up at the clouds. And especially the muggy heat from HFIL.

"I must be off my rocker to miss that place." Josie thought with a shake of her head.

Maybe she should call back Nimbus and at least have him keep her company while she walked, she thought. It beat traveling alone for sure. Maybe he could point in the direction she needed to go. She grimaced at the wind picking up, rubbing her arms with more friction, continuing to stare up at the night sky covered in dark clouds...

She tilted her head at that word, _**dark**_.

Frowning, she got up, eyes still facing up as she tried to remember something she'd seen a long time ago on the show. _The guy with the braid_, Josie's brain fumbled with the name, licking her dry lips, as she tried to remember the episode. Goku was young, that she definitely remembered so she was pretty sure it was in the Dragon Ball series; he was facing the Red Ribbon army, and this guy... his name was General something... She glanced back up at the clouds with a thoughtful frown.

She remembered him riding a cloud once...but not like Goku's Nimbus, this one was a dark version of that.

Is that it? is that what it was?

"Dark Nimbus?" She asked herself out loud, heart hammering as she considered the possibility that she was just imagining having seen this before.

_Screw it_, she thought. "DARK NIMBUS!" Josie blew hot air into her closed fists, jumping up and down in an attempt to keep warm, as she waited and stared up at the sky, hoping against hope that she wasn't crazy.

Yup, she certainly was, she thought after a few minutes of nothing. Groaning, she dropped on the ground with a thump, body numb with the cold as she huddled into as small a ball as she possibly could against the tree, beginning to grow worried for her health. What she wouldn't give to be in muggy HFIL right now.

After a few minutes, she finally heard a noise, and confused, she turned around, the noise becoming louder. Eyes widening, Josie's heart soared with relief and unadulterated joy, as a dark mass started to make its was quickly to her.

And Josie then cheered like she had never cheered before, bellowing as loud as her voice would allow her, fists raised towards the sky, and tears nearly falling down her face in breathtaking happiness - out there in the open field.

Minutes later, Josie was soaring with the clouds, grinning happily as she lay on the cloud, grabbing as much of it as she could, not minding the cold sting of the wind quite as much now that she wasn't alone. "You've made me so happy, Dark Nim." Josie mumbled blissfully, stroking the incredible texture beneath her. "I don't know how this happened or why you decided to come, but thank you." Sighing, Josie snuggled into the cloud.

"Now if we could only find me a blanket, this would be perfect." Josie's eyes widened as the cloud quickly began to descend, keeping the same slow but steady speed, making Josie hold on for dear life, still unaccustomed to the sensation. "W-what are we..whoa!" Trying not to scream, Josie held on as best she could, burying her face into the clouding and refusing to look up until they came to an abrupt stop. Heart thumping loudly, Josie frightened eyes came up, blinking in surprise when she realized they were behind a two story home where linen hung to dry on the balcony. Josie studied the property, confused as to why Dark Nimbus had stopped them there, and then stared openly at the linen once more. There was a dry and warm blanket hanging amongst the clothes and Josie stared at it in shock, laughter bubbling out of her, as she realized why they'd come down.

Grinning, Josie reached over for the blanket and wrapped the dry blanket around herself, huddling in a sitting position, immediately sighing at the sensation against her cold numbed skin. She felt bad about the petty theft but this was definitely an emergency. And now, it truly was perfect.

She left in its place her large flash light for some small compensation and she stroked the soft cloud underneath her once more as they slowly took off again, shaking her head with amusement. "You're so much cooler than Nimbus, Dark Nim." In response, the cloud did a fast loop in the air, making Josie scream and then laugh in pleasure.

"You can do that as much as you want... but please, for the sake of water buffalos, please make sure I don't fall." Josie requested happily, bundled tightly in her blanket and peacefully settling into her seat, as they slowly went higher and higher into the night sky of beautiful earth on their journey back **home**.

* * *

_Heartfelt Thank you's to_**_: _**Guest, buzz97, RosesMoon, Thomas Drovin, Letus the Saiyan, Lucency, Luvrainluv. *Cookies and love for you all*

**Narunosuke-Namikaze-Uchiha:** Cerean is 22 years old, I believe (Checking chapter 36: The other Boys) yup! twenty two, so he's a little bit older than Josie, but my reasoning for that was I don't think Saiyans are as sensitive about age as earthlings are (I'm not saying he was attracted to Josie, I'm letting readers decide that ;) BUT if he was, he wouldn't see age as an issue. I think Josie is a little more overwhelmed, self conscious about it - not used to the up front manner of Saiyans, especially a young one she doesn't know any prior knowledge about. Not to mention she's like any normal insecure sixteen year old teenage girl but man I had fun with them :)

**GirXzimXfanatic: **Haha, I think I'm right there with you. I almost shipped that couple too! I hope its not the last of Cerean either!

* * *

**Note:** So much closer to reuniting! will it be a happy reunion after everything that's happened? What do you think it'll be like? Let me know your thoughts! PS. I love Dark Nimbus!


	42. Chapter 42: The New Chapter

**Disclaimer**: No disclaimer. I own it all.

Fine, I own nothing X)

**Dude Where's My World:**

**Revised**

**Chapter 42: **The New Chapter

Immediately after the wishes had been made on the Dragon Balls on planet New Namek, goodbyes had been short but heartfelt between the Z Fighters and the Namekians, before they began the long and arduous trip back home.

Once the spaceship was safely out of New Namek's atmosphere and the course set for planet Earth, Bulma got up and went to check on others, not surprised that they'd all disappeared as soon as they'd been able too. They were all exhausted...or too busy fighting, she thought with narrowed eyes as she walked through the halls.

Trunks was hanging out in his room, Gohan was sleeping in his, Piccolo was meditating in the work out area and Goten was scrounging the kitchen for food. He caught sight of Bulma entering the kitchen and pointed at the fridge with lines of concern on his face. "Are we sure we're going to have enough food for the trip back, Bulma?" Bulma laughed, nodding.

"We'll be just fine, Goten." She assured. "I'm more interested in knowing how you and Trunks are doing." She hinted, as she took a seat on a chair at the table. Goten scratched the back of his head, unhappily.

"He's not saying much to me." He admitted. "I honestly know he'll be fine once he talks to Val and realizes it goes both ways, but meanwhile, I'm not sure what else I can do but stay out of his way." Bulma laughed at that silly notion and shook her head, standing back up, going to Goten and wrapping an arm around his shoulder to lead him away from the kitchen. Once they were out in the hallway, Bulma spotted Vegeta turning down another hallway and called out to him.

"Vegeta" Her husband turned around and looked at her expectantly. "I need your help with something for a minute," Seeing his frown of displeasure, she added. "It involves using violence." His interest obviously piked, Vegeta followed after them silently.

Goten glanced back over his shoulder at Vegeta and gulped, nervously. "What are you going to do, Bulma?" Bulma laughed at the obvious concern in his voice.

"Don't worry, Goten, nothing as dramatic as you're probably thinking." He relaxed a little at that. "I'm just locking you two in a room with no way out." Goten's eyes widened at that, Vegeta laughing in the background as he overheard that.

"What?!" He demanded, shocked, as Bulma happily gestured towards Trunks and Goten's shared room.

"Here we are." She said happily, opening the door and clearing her throat for him to go on in. When Goten hesitated, Vegeta was only too happy to give him a 'gentle' nudge inside, where a shocked and outraged Trunks sat up on his bed. "Now do me a favor boys, and don't cheat. If you come out of this room not having made up, you'll both train five hours a day with your father in the Gravity Room everyday and I'll disable the bots and make you clean up the GR yourselves, also every day." She explained with a patient smile as she leaned on the doorway. "By the time we get home neither of you will have the strength to be able to get up walk away from each other." She promised, not seeing the huge smirk of pleasure on Vegeta's face at her threats. He stared at the boys, willing them to argue, and though both looked shocked, neither talked back.

"Its settled then." Vegeta smirked arrogantly, closing the door after them and binding the door shut, assuming that that's what the woman had wanted.

"Thank you Vegeta," Bulma grinned happily, as she walked away, shaking her hips a little more than necessary.

"I live to please, woman." He remarked with amusement, eyes devouring the sight, as he followed after her.

...

She couldn't get enough of the cloud, Josie realized with glee, having spent the entire night trip stroking the wonderful cloud and quietly sharing stories of her time in HFIL with the quietly humming cloud to distract herself from the nerve wrecking height they were flying at. "You're going to be my little secret, Dark Nim." She promised him, smiling, as she stared up at the stars she was rushing past, comfortably adjusting her blanket, her hands behind her head.

Josie had removed the blanket from her shoulders after the sun had come up, eagerly sitting up, when they'd finally made it to the right continent. She'd instructed Dark Nim, as she'd playfully nicknamed him, to the ground, going into a small town and struggling to find someone who spoke english or would even be willing to stop long enough to talk to her.

She came back out into the outskirts of the town, frowning, as she rested her arm on the awaiting cloud. "Maybe we'd have better luck with in a city-" Seeing a figure zooming past the sky, Josie tilted her head at the strange sight. "Huh..." Dismissing it, she hopped on her cloud and directed him to the nearest city, hoping they'd have better luck there.

When they arrived, Josie got back off to a much more heavily populated and lively city, getting lost in the masses, as she nervously asked person to person if they spoke english. "English?" She asked a quickly walking couple. "English?" She turned around, blowing out air, exasperated with how little a result she was getting. She passed by a sidewalk vendor who had a mirror hanging up and she groaned at her reflection. **That** was probably why everyone was ignoring her. She looked a mess.

"...what did Val tell me to say?" She asked herself, trying to remember the small Japanese important questions she'd told her to try to memorize. "...something wa doko...desu..ka?" She shook her head knowing there was something before that. "Benjou? Benjou wa doko desu ka?" Someone gasped in indignation and started quickly talking to her angrily, pointing away. Startled, Josie shuffled away, blushing, unsure what the hell Val had taught her to say that was apparently offensive. She heard someone chuckling across the street, and cautiously she went in the man's direction, another street vendor, and he said something to her, much more patiently. "Otearai," He corrected gently. He said something else and pointed around the corner.

"Arigato?" He laughed again and nodded, gesturing her away. Josie scratched the top of her head as she went off, unsure how much she'd screwed that all up but heading in the direction he pointed, thankful when she realized she had been pointed in the right direction. The bathroom. Grinning she quickly went in eagerly splashing water on her face from the faucet and took her hair down, grimacing as she tried to comb her fingers through it.

Half an hour later she came out with her hair wet, and her shoes and attire looking a lot more clean, yet still drawing attention with her unorthodox spandex outfit. Josie ignored the looks and went back to the man who had helped her before and added "Domo" to her arigato, hoping that helped, he nodded, giving her a friendly smile. "I wish you spoke english."

"I do." He admitted, making Josie's eyes widen.

"Why didn't you-"

"Your Japanese was much more, how you say...entertaining." Josie rolled her eyes with a smile and put her hands on her hips, eagerly leaning forward.

"My name is Josie, I'm from West City, I was hoping you could tell me how to get there." Intrigued by how she'd gotten all the way out here, he nodded, pulling out a map from his stand.

"My in charge is not here so I can help you for a few moments," He said, "You don't look like you have money." He pointed out and she sheepishly agreed. "Where in West City?"

"Capsule Corporation," She answered, looking over his shoulder at the map readily. His eyes widened and he closed the map at that.

"The Briefs residence?" He asked with disbelief. "Why?"

"That's where I live." Josie explained. He gave her a look and slowly opened the map back up, not seeming to believe her. "The Briefs are my friends." She insisted. "I'll talk to them about sending you something as a thank you for your help." The man with the dark hair and thick accent studied her carefully for deceit and finding none, he laughed.

"How interesting..."

"That's what they call me." Josie grinned.

"Your clothes." He nodded. "You do look like...how do you say, strange people that Mrs. Brief-san invites to her home." Josie laughed in agreement, happily shouting in joy when the man offered her the map and a small compass.

"I promise to ask them to pay you back," Josie said, delightedly. After having him put his contact information on the back of the map, Josie was off, running through the streets to get back on the outskirts, glancing up at the sky, curious to see if she'd see the zooming movement from before. Not seeing or hearing anything, she shrugged, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"DARK NIM!" Josie shouted, as she rounded a building where it was empty of people. Grinning when the cloud swiftly came, Josie climbed awkwardly aboard. "Lets go bud!" She said eagerly, thankful that the cloud had kept her gun. "I've got a map and a compass." She explained showing them to him briefly, sitting comfortably on the cloud as she studied the materials in her hands. "I'm not good at maps but we can figure this out." She assured, scratching her head as they went back up into the air.

...

The first few hours of the boys imprisonment on the ship, had been silent, both boys remaining on their own beds, each staring at the roof with their own thoughts.

Eventually, Goten grew to dislike the silence, and turned his head to look at his best friend with a slight frown, resentment over his friends attitude forcing him to speak. "You should be happy for me." He finally said with conviction in his voice, and a little bit of hurt in there too.

Trunks stared at the ceiling for a few more moments, his arms behind his bed, as he took in his friends words. "...I am." He finally said, turning to look at Goten, who blinked in surprise, not having been expecting _that_.

"You are?" Goten asked, rounding his legs to sit down on the bed staring at Trunks with confusion.

"Of course I am, Goten." Trunks sighed, feeling like a jerk for unintentionally stressing his friend out. "I've been worried about Josie nonstop, feeling like an awful friend for not- I know, don't." He insisted, when he could see his friend was going to argue that. "I'm just telling you what I felt." Goten nodded, hands at his side, waiting patiently. "And you've..." He shook his head, as he sat up and faced Goten. "You've been such a good friend to me. **I** should have been the one to go back to planet earth to tell the girls... but I'm glad now that it was you," He admitted. "I'm glad you told her. And I'm glad you helped her through this. You've helped us both, buddy." He rephrased, meaning every word.

"_REALLY?_" Both boys turned as the door was easily blasted aside. There stood the prince of all Saiyans scowling, fists tightly clenched at his sides. "Two lousy hours was all it took for you to make peace?!" He demanded, having been really looking forward to having these two lazy slackers clean up after him and be his personal punching bags to take out his aggression over having to put up with the girl again when he got home.

"You two are a disgrace!" He growled, stomping away angrily, leaving the two teenagers blinking at each other for a few moments, before they burst out laughing.

...

_Back on earth, hours later:_

Matt looked over at Valerie who sat in his 1988 orange Saab, her shoulders hunched towards the window, one knee tucked underneath her bottom to help her get a better view outside, while her other knee bounced anxiously on his mat. She looked like the very picture of a worried mom, he thought, as her vigilant eyes scanned the people on the sidewalks of West City in search of her friend, Josie.

Valerie continued to scan the crowds, her finger nails finding their way back to lightly be gnawed on by her teeth, no matter how many times she pulled her hands away. She had asked Matt to come pick her up and help her find her friend that was coming to West City; she had made up some cockamamie story about how her friend was not from the area and was taking a vacation at Capsule Corporation and though he'd somewhat believed that, he knew there was WAY more to that story than what she was letting on. She looked much too worried about her friend for this to be some normal vacation to Japan.

But still, she'd asked for the favor and she sounded pretty desperate over the phone, so he came out to help her. She'd been given a picture that the youngest Briefs had printed out of all of them at some birthday party and the search had begun. They'd been at it now for three hours, at times choosing to get out of the car and ask people around but this was a busy city, so Matt hadn't been very surprised to not receive much help from the rushing people. So now they were back in the car, taking one more drive.

The phone on Valerie's lap began to ring and she quickly picked it up, "Hello?" He pulled over gently, putting the car on park and looking at Valerie's face to see if the call was good news or bad. Her expressions changed from surprise to joy as she nodded eagerly. "She's home? W-ok, ...yeah, no, definitely. I'm going back now. Thank you!" Valerie hung up the phone and grinned brightly at Matt. "She's home! We have to go to Capsule Corp." Unable to help but grin back, Matt nodded and quickly pulled back onto the road.

They were back at Capsule Corp grounds in less than twenty minutes and Matt laughed as Valerie jumped out of the car before it was completely stopped, remaining there for a few more minutes with a smile. Whoever this Josie character was, she sure seemed to be important to Valerie and though he didn't know her, he was really happy that she was back too.

Meanwhile, Valerie had ran inside the house, stopping at the front door when she saw Chichi and Bra talking to a stranger in the living room. The girl was bent down, retrieving, what Valerie realized with a gasp, was a gun. Hearing the gasp, the mud covered, scratched and bruised girl raised her eyes towards her and Valerie's mouth hit the ground.

"Josie?" She breathed out, shocked. Josie raised herself up to her full height, grinning. She looked so different now, Valerie immediately noted with amazement; her messy hair was down around her shoulders, full of tangles, dirt and hay; she had bangs now too, and Val also noted with some confusion that Josie was wearing something she had only ever seen Saiyans wear. As if the changes, scratches and bruises she was sporting weren't enough to give Valerie a heart attack, the gun in Josie's was sending her precariously close to that edge. "I..." Shaking her head in disbelief, Valerie rejected all the questions that bombarded her mind, and opened her arms widely towards her friend, refusing to care about any of it at this moment.

She felt immense relief when Josie handed the gun to Chichi and rushed towards her, what little oxygen she had left quickly being squeezed out of her as Josie wrapped her arms around her tightly. "Oxygen!" Valerie coughed out, inhaling gratefully and choking on a laugh when Josie pulled away sheepishly. "Its so good to have you home.." Valerie mumbled in awe.

"We called you as soon as she arrived." Chichi explained with a smile, putting the gun on the table nearby. "Bra's been chatting her ear up the moment she walked through the door." Valerie softly continued to shake her head, stupefied, as Bra came to hug Josie's side, not seeing Josie tense when arms wrapped around her back. "Well? come-on girls, lets all take a seat, I put on some tea while you got here, Val." Nodding dumbly, Valerie let Chichi guide her to a seat, sitting across from Bra and Josie, unable to keep herself from openly staring at Josie.

Pan and Videl came down the stairs a moment later, "Everyone knows the search is off now." Videl informed everyone, taking a seat beside Valerie, as Pan sat on her other side and eagerly reached for a cup, helping her grandmother begin to serve the tea. Valerie saw Josie cringe when Videl mentioned the search party, and immediately smiled at her reassuringly, gratified when she saw Josie notice it and give her a soft smile back.

Chichi turned to her granddaughter. "Be a dear and get me some biscuits and honey for everyone, Pan." Nodding, the youngest Son family member did as her grandmother asked and left the room.

"You must have landed pretty far to have to have hitched a ride for almost two days," Videl began politely, a kind smile on her face as she handed Josie a cup of tea, which she quietly took.

Valerie could easily spot that Josie would lie, even before she opened her mouth. "Yes, I'm not sure why, but I was fine and I'm just glad to be here."

"_Mama, where's the honey at?_" Pan's voice called from the other room, excusing herself , Videl left the room to go show her. Valerie gratefully took her own cup of tea, watching over the brim as Bra told Josie all the details of what they'd been doing the last day and a half to try to find her.

The more they talked about the weeks while they'd all been gone and what they'd been up too. The more uncomfortable and nervous Josie seemed to get. Valerie noticed it and Chichi noticed her becoming anxious. Josie's hands were clutching the ends of her seat and her knee was twitching every few minutes.

"You wouldn't believe how-"

Chichi cleared her throat, drawing the attention to herself as she stood up, the picture of calm and dominance. She gave Josie a smile. "How does a shower sound?"

The look on Josie's face made it seem like Chichi had just offered her the very cure to cancer itself. "That sounds wonderful." Josie admitted, out of breath at the idea, as she smiled grandly at Goku's girl got up, excused herself and followed after Chichi leaving them all in the living room to happily continue talking, unaware, all except for Valerie.

...

Josie waited patiently while Chichi went into her bathroom and prepared a warm shower for her. After a few minutes of bustling, the older woman came out of the bathroom shaking the water off of her hands, giving Josie a smile. "There. There's warm towels in there for you too."

"Thank you so much, Chichi."

"Its no problem at all," She assured with a wave of dismissal, "But do me a favor and do not put how water directly on that forming bruise." Josie's eyes widened at that, rushing to the bathroom mirror and groaning a few seconds later at the coloring bruise on her cheek, courtesy of good ole Jim. Her eyes connected with Chichi's knowing ones for a moment in the mirror, as she nodded to say she'd understood the older woman's directions. Satisfied, Chichi gave her some privacy and left the bathroom and her bedroom entirely, followed by Josie who gently closed the door to her bedroom with a sigh of relief.

Josie went into the bathroom and stared at the bruise on her face with a sigh, gingerly pressing around it to determine the damage. After a minute, she pulled back from the mirror, frowning at her reflection, before she turned away and quietly disrobed. She spent the next two hours in the shower, continually turning up the heat of the water when it began to cool, feeling like the heat from the water never transmitted onto her numbed skin.

So she waited, underneath the spray that had long ago cleaned her body, hoping to feel warm again.

"_Josie?" _Valerie eventually called worriedly from the other side of the door, aware of long she'd been in there. "..._You're going to turn into a fish in there man_.."

Josie wanted to respond, but what could she say? That she felt cold? She silently sat down on the tub floor and rested her forehead on her knees, focusing her energy on undoing the knots of nerves in her stomach that she'd carried around since Namek; the knots that constantly made her feel like she was still in possible danger and kept her on edge because of it. She was safe now, she had to remind herself, and she was home. She was finally safe at home.

Valerie hesitated by the closed door for a few more minutes, feeling like something important was happening behind that door that she didn't understand. She slowly pulled away from the door and left the room, unsure of what else she could do.

When Josie had finally come out of the shower and had opened her bedroom door, she'd been surprised to find Valerie and Bra already there, eagerly waiting for her to come back out. Valerie noted with relief that Josie looked a lot better and a lot more like her old self after coming out of the bathroom; wearing some black sweats and a gray hooded sweater. Bra had already made her way into the room, chatting eagerly. "We are going to have so much fun now that you're back." Bra announced excitedly as she took a seat on Josie's bed and patted the spot in front of her. Obediently Josie came and sat in front of her, with her back turned, so that Bra could wipe out the excess moisture from her hair and begin to gently comb it.

Valerie glanced at the clock in Josie's room as she followed the two and took a seat on Josie's desk chair, noting that it was already almost eleven at night. "Good shower?" Valerie couldn't help but ask quietly, Josie's eyes coming to hers with a big smile.

"Great shower." She attempted to reassure. Nodding, Valerie bit her thumb, as she eyed her friend and Bra talk as they talked.

_...Where was she the last two days? _valerie couldn't help but ask herself, _and where the hell did she get that spandex outfit? What happened in Namek? And what all happened in other world? _She had so many questions she wished she could ask instead of this useless conversation. Valerie straightened when Josie's inquisitive eyes came back to her with some amusement.

"So...you got into a fight with Valese?" She asked her with surprise, Valerie turned to glare at Bra immediately after that, not having realized the conversation had deviated while she was off in her own thoughts.

"Not intentionally!" Valerie immediately retorted, a little defensively, making Josie laugh.

That made her relax, more than anything else, Valerie realized, as her shoulders finally loosened up and she allowed herself to smile at the girls on the bed. She knew that what Josie had gone through must have been a little on the rough side but she was smiling and laughing now, so that meant she had to be ok, **right? **

Reassured, Valerie finally allowed herself to join in the conversation, adding her own thoughts on what they'd been up to while Josie was gone, throwing in jokes occasionally to hear her friend laugh again. It was past two am when Bra and Valerie were no longer able to avoid showing signs of how sleepy they truly were. Josie had been a captivated audience member, listening to the stories with a big smile on her face, asking questions and adding comments here and there.

"Sorry." Valerie apologized as she yawned once more. Josie looked briefly at her night stand and blinked with surprise when she saw the time.

"Don't be." She said as she began to get up and stretch. "Its got to be time to sleep. I'll see you two in the morning." Bra followed suit and hugged Josie tightly once more, covering her mouth as she yawned.

"Right next door if you need anything," Bra assured with a happy and sleepy smile. "I love you." She mumbled, surprising Josie who hugged her all the tighter, grinning over her shoulder. Valerie took her turn hugging Josie again, mumbling how good it was to have her home again. She made her way to the door, slowing and turning around, looking nervous and curious as her eyes met Josie's amused ones.

"Yes?"

"...Is it weird? being back?" Josie looked surprised by the question.

"Its a little weird." she admitted finally, smiling at Valerie who nodded, satisfied with the answer. Josie followed her to the door and turned off her bedroom light, closing the door cautiously, barely letting the click make any noise as it provided Josie a much needed break from the rest of the household.

She turned back to the room, as she rested her back on her door. She was a little surprised Valerie had finally asked her a question regarding coming back. She had felt worried about how she'd answer any questions, but soon had found herself feeling bad to see how much Valerie was obviously wrestling with whether she should ask or not; yet at the same time she couldn't help but feel relieved that in the end, she had been too nervous to ask.

But she had asked if it was weird.

_Weird... _Josie repeated the word in her mind with amusement, as she studied her quiet bedroom. How that word failed to capture even an iota of how it felt to be back here. She quietly made her way to her bed and laid back, her hands resting on her stomach as she studied the ceiling above her. She hadn't had really any moments of quiet to be alone with her thoughts since... uncomfortably, she shifted in her bed, turning on her side.

It was so silent now and so peaceful-almost too much so, she glanced at her window and scooted closer to it, opening both windows wide open to let in some of the noises from outside; relaxing visibly when the noises of leaves rustling in the window, distant cars and crickets filled her ears. She was able to breathe a little more calmly now, leaning back against the wall as she considered her predicament and what it felt like.

The only way that she could think to describe it was that It felt like there had been a band aid with some useless ointment on her wound while she was in HFIL. It had numbed her from feeling things while she had been in Other World with Cerean, but now that she was back... she felt raw and exposed; like she didn't even have a worthless band aid to attempt to stop the open wound from bleeding anymore.

And now she had to reassure everyone that she wasn't bleeding at all! and keep the throbbing wound hidden from prying eyes. She rubbed her arms, still feeling chilled, knowing with a glance outside that it had nothing to do with her open window. Was this another side effect of coming back? Feeling cold?

So she not only didn't have bandages on her open wounds but she apparently was also wearing a bikini out in the cold Alaskan winter? Snorting at the ridiculous metaphors, Josie leaning her head against the wall, half closed eyes lazily studying her bedroom. She was once more reminded that she had only been gone maybe two weeks, and yet it felt strange being back at Capsule Corp. "It'll feel better when everyone comes back home." She tried to reassure herself quietly, clearing her throat. "It'll all go back to normal then."

_Yeah and then you'll have to face Vegeta_, the unwelcome thought slapped her hard across her already aching face. Rolling her eyes at how her heart slowly began to speed up with stress at the thought, Josie straightened her head to get a better look at the clock on her bedside table and her mouth dropped open with shock; it had only been three minutes since the girls had left her room.

_You have got to be crapping me_.

Groaning, Josie dropped back on her side on the bed, annoyed. She turned her head slightly to scowl at the ceiling, as if it was somehow to blame for how slowly time seemed to go by when she was alone with her thoughts. If she at least felt a little bit tired, then she could go to sleep and not worry about her traitorous mind anymore, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would be a lost cause; she would be tossing and turning in bed until the sun rose, while everyone else slept peacefully.

"Coming back to life is not supposed to feel more like a dream than waking up in other world did." Josie accused the ceiling, frowning when it didn't respond. "Its not" She repeated, stubbornly. Wiping at her left eye in annoyance, Josie sat back up on her bed, glaring at her bedroom, letting her feet dangle off the bed. "Probably not being back that's playing wham bam with my sanity, so much as it is feeling like a freak of nature because I can't friggin sleep." Sighing, Josie let her eyes wander her room, landing on her closet, her head tilting slightly.

She had an idea.

...

In her bedroom, Valerie startled awake, bumping right onto Bra's forehead above her. The young teen groaned, holding her forehead and glaring down at her, "Val!" She scolded.

"I'm sorry," Valerie hissed, rubbing at her face, angrily. "Did my sleeping in MY room disturb your creepy hovering?!"

"I wasn't-" Bra shook her head, not wanting to be distracted from her real purpose of coming to Valerie's room. "I had a hard time sleeping." Valerie slowly sat up with a sigh, glancing out the window, seeing that it was still completely dark out.

"Luckily for you, there's still plenty of night time left so you can fix that." Valerie reminded with a glare, hoping she'd take the hint and go back to bed.

"Josie's been awake all night." Bra explained, undistracted by Valerie's tone. "I don't know what she's doing in her room but she's been moving a ton of stuff around in there."

Bra could see that that finally caught Valerie's concern, "At this hour?" Valerie asked, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes, as she turned around and looked at her bedside clock with a frown.

"Yeah. Should we talk to her?" Bra asked nervously. Valerie shook her head, as she threw off her covers, yawning.

"Don't worry about it, Bra" She assured. "Go ahead and go back to sleep, I'll go see what's up." Bra nodded, with some relief, as she quietly left the room shortly after. Valerie went into her bathroom and washed her face, feeling groggy and still a little grumpy if she was honest with herself, as she knocked on Josie's door.

There was a stillness inside the room, before she heard a small curse and a few seconds later, the door opened. Valerie was surprised to find that Bra had been right after-all, Josie was wide awake, her room was brightly illuminated by lights and Josie stood before her, smiling sheepishly at having been caught.

"Sorry about that." Josie mumbled, embarrassed. "Did I wake you?"

"Kind of." Valerie smiled. "Uh...looking for something?" Josie glanced over her shoulder and cringed again.

"I got a little carried away." She admitted. "I just got curious about something I think I brought with me but I can't find my backpack, so I'm scouring the room looking for it."

"And it couldn't wait till tomorrow?" Valerie asked surprised, tilting her head, no longer annoyed but curious.

"It can," Josie admitted with a sigh. "I just kept thinking it couldn't be much longer till I found it and I kept going. I'm really sorry about the noise."

Valerie shrugged it off. "Can I help you find it?"

"No, but you can keep me company if you'd like." Josie offered, opening the door for her widely. Valerie came in and sat on what little space was left on the bed, making herself comfortable as she watched Josie search and mutter to herself for maybe twenty minutes before she found herself drifting off to sleep again, on Josie's bed.

Josie noticed her friend slowly being forced to cave into the need for sleep and smiled, putting everything away back where she found it as quietly as possible, finally finishing at seven am. She got down on her knees beside her bed, intending on putting away her shoes in there when she felt something underneath her bed. Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, she yanked at the object, and sure enough, there was her backpack.

_Underneath my bed?! _She groaned quietly, shaking her head into her hands. That was her idea of hiding something? Her shoulders shook with laughter as she opened the bag and briefly looked inside. Thinking better of it she grabbed two things off her desk, shoved them in her bag and left the room, quietly closing the door after herself so as not to disturb Valerie. Josie quickly made her way down the hall towards the next floor up, and shortly after that, her favorite place on CapsuleCorp properties: the roof.

When Valerie woke up, she immediately noted two things: She was in Josie's room and Josie was no where to be seen. She checked her own room incase Josie had decided to sleep there but saw the bed exactly how she'd left it and couldn't find her downstairs in the kitchen or dining room.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Chichi greeted, "You both had a long night, didn't you?" She asked, gesturing to the equally tired looking Bra who sat at the table.

"Guess so," Valerie smiled, "Is Josie down yet?"

"Not yet."

"May I have some coffee please?"

"I'll get it." Josie offered cheerfully, entering the dinning area for brief seconds before disappearing into the kitchen. She came back moments later with a cup of steaming hot coffee, setting it in front of Valerie. "There you go." She said kindly. "Sorry about the sleeping stuff yesterday, I hope you slept ok on my bed?" Josie whispered to Val who nodded, still looking mighty surprised at the energy Josie was displaying after a sleepless night like that.

"I slept fine." Valerie assured. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Recognition came into Josie's eyes and she nodded, with a forced casual smile.

"I did." She confirmed.

"Good morning everyone!" Pan greeted, as she came into the dining room.

"The house of girls just keeps growing," Chichi commented with a smile. "My this is so strange for me.." She mumbled to herself laughing, as she went back into the kitchen to help Videl finish breakfast.

"So what are we doing today?" Josie asked the girls eagerly, looking over at Bra who laughed tiredly from the table, mumbling happily.

"I missed you." Bra repeated from before, making Josie grin.

"Didn't you friend say he was going to come get you today to work out at Gramps dojo?" Pan asked Valerie, as she came into the dining room.

"Well, yeah, but that was before the whole Josie coming back thing." Valerie explained, internally grimacing as the curiosity came into Josie's eyes.

"You have a non dbz friend here?" Josie asked surprised, a smile on her face. "Was this when you started training with Hercule?" She asked curiously.

Valerie nodded, a light pink creeping up on her cheeks, really hoping that she didn't make a big deal about it, especially with Chichi having newly entered the room again.

"...Uh huh." Josie clicked her tongue, a smile creeping on her face, as the two older women began to put the food on the table. "I don't suppose this person is...a male, by chance?"

The flush on Valerie's face became more prominent. "A married friend." Valerie quickly corrected, unhappy with the turn of this conversation. Josie nodded, smiling brightly at Chichi and thanking her as she received a plate of food.

"Videl and Pan - and really, all of you - thank you again for trying so hard to find me." Josie changed the subject back to herself, grinning at how relieved Valerie was to have the subject of her male friend dropped. "I'm so glad Val had all you wonderful ladies while I was gone." She winked at Valerie as the conversation continued away from the topic of Valerie's friend for the next thirty minutes while they all began to have breakfast.

After they were done they all chipped in to clean up the kitchen and headed to the backyard to enjoy the warm day and cool off in the pool, Josie and Bra choosing to remain to stay out of the water, only dipping their legs up to their knees while Valerie and Pan changed and dove right on in.

"So," Josie started carefully, a mischievous smile making its way to her lips as Chichi finally walked away. "Can I hear more about this married friend of yours? he must be old." Josie asked valerie who groaned and let herself sink under the water to avoid the question. "What?" Josie asked Bra beside her, who laughed. "I'm just curious!" She defended, beaming. "What can you tell me Bra-"

"Fine, I'll tell you!" Valerie sputtered, coming back up and swimming her way toward them in a state of panic at the idea of Bra having a chance to exaggerate things to make it all seem like more than it was. "He's eighteen." Josie whistled, impressed that a young man of his age had chosen to marry. "Happily married," Valerie added with a glare, hoping to stop any ideas from forming in her mind. "And a student of Master Her-" Cursing, Valerie dove back in when Josie let out a howl of laughter at that last slip, falling back onto the concrete holding her sides.

"You girls look like you're having fun," Videl commented with a smile, passing by with a load of laundry they were getting ready to hang up.

"The best." Bra grinned with amusement.

"Gramps is actually a pretty tough teacher," Pan corrected Josie with a smile, as Josie sat back up, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I have no doubt." Josie said sincerely, "I just...I can't imagine him as **your** teacher."

"You want to go see the school?" Pan offered, hearing a loud objection from Valerie, in a matter of seconds.

"NO!"

"Oh come-on Val," Josie asked, smiling. "I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you about a friend I made, if you let me meet yours." Valerie eyed her, wearily, thinking this had to be a trick of some kind, but Josie didn't seem to be lying... "I mean it," Josie insisted, raising her right hand up with a smile. "Scouts honor."

"Never a scout, baka." Valerie reminded, as she picked herself out of the pool and began to mutter to herself unhappily, walking back to the house. She slowed as she considered the girl's words; Josie had made a friend in other world?

"He was a Saiyan..." Josie sing songed in an attempt to make the offer seem all the more irresistible. She smirked when it obviously worked; Valerie turned around for a moment, surprise written all over her face.

"W-what?" She sputtered out, never having expected to hear _that_. Josie shrugged lightly, a smile still on her face as she turned the other way and filed her nails with an invisible nail buffer. "Oh fine!" Valerie exclaimed with annoyance, realizing what Josie was doing. "I'll just change and we'll friggin go." She rolled her eyes, unable to hide a small smile as she turned back around to leave, ignoring the cheers behind her as she went inside the house to get ready.

* * *

Huge thank you's:

**Luvrainluv** (big hug), **Thomas Drovin** (I know! me either, so excited it exists), **Explorer girl in training** (Yup, you're my favorite),** letus the saiyan** (Hmm you may be my favorite ;) No but seriously, what an amazing compliment, thank you), **Oneira.x **(I love YOU), **lucency** (glad it was entertaining. Feel free to let me know how I can make this more enjoyable for you:) **RosesMoon** (thankyouthankyou).

**GirXzimXfanatic**: I wanted to do this scene but couldn't find a reason for her to wear it again - especially after she showered! I still may at some point though! I am SO glad the chapter was able to pick up your spirits. No greater honor, thank you!

**Bowser Jr's Descendant**: I'm so blown away by that, thank you! Im saddened that it won't always be able to be all fun and hijinx, but I really do try to keep it as close to the series AND as close to realism in terms of their reactions, as possible. I forget myself sometimes and wish I had expanded on a moment here or there or wish I hadn't stuck so close to my 13 year old version of things but I've really enjoyed seeing things through these girls eyes and am eager to explore the after effects of all they've gone through in the last few weeks! PS. I did receive your PM and I've been swamped for the week but I will reply within the next day!

Thank you again for all the wonderful reviews and all the new followers/readers. You're all the absolute best. I give you chocolate!

* * *

**Note:** I've received so many cool reviews telling me about how out there this story is and how DIFFERENT from so many others it is. Thank you all so much,, even when you don't (And its inevitable you wont always understand my crazy decisions) understand my choices, I do strive for different - if you can tell exactly where my story is going, I have not done my intended job properly! So thank you again, but please remember, I do like to please my audience whenever possible. So if there is anything you want/would rather see, please make sure you shoot me a review and let me know! I can't give you what I don't know you'd like to see ;)

I'm sorry these transition chapters have been a little slow and rough too, I'm not 100% satisfied so hence my delays in posting, but its all in my over eagerness to get to a specific portion of the story (I hate when that happens!) thank you all for your patience!


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